Sea Foam
by Dgm-yoai-lover
Summary: Prince Lavi is saved by an evil creature, a merboy. Years later when Lavi is grown, he meets the boy again and hears the odd story behind his heart of ice, and now he must protect him from the mermaid hunter Tyki, who is also his suitor. Laven
1. Prologue

**Yup, it's a mermaid story, but don't worry, I'm gonna make it as original as possible, just keep in mind it's a combo of legends from mythical sea creatures, mostly mermaids, plus quite a few elements of Disney's little mermaid as well as the original legends so there will of course be a lot of familiar stuff. I'm taking a break from my canon fics cos I'm stuck on them and better at AU ones. More room to move you see.**

**I don't own this show or the little mermaid, Disney version or original version.**

_**----**_

_One wrong move on the slippery rocks was all it took to send the young prince into the cold dark ocean, wetness soaking through his clothes instantly and chilling him to the bone. He struggled with all his might to swim back and find a safe place to climb back onto dry land, but the current pulled at him, making him weak and forcing him further and further away from safety the more he tried. And then they came._

_The merfolk, with their strangely coloured hair and their cruel doll-like faces. Their slender silver tails glittered in the murky darkness of the water, sending beams of artificial moonlight in every direction. It was both the most beautiful and terrifying thing he had ever seen in his life.  
The merhunters said they were immortal, and the only way to kill them was to cut out their heart. Their heart, which was a large chunk of unmeltable ice, was crushed into pieces, sold and used to make expensive decorations for jewellery, being used as a valuable stone._

_And now, these mermaids and mermen were silently circling him. He stopped struggling, too weak to keep going and let himself sink further towards the bottom, ignoring the bitter cold of the night sea as his lungs cried out for air. The current had him trapped, as did the other worldly creatures. He was doomed.  
The Merpeople were vain, and believed they had everything beautiful anyone could want, seeing human legs and the dry world as ugly and not worth their time, but the one thing they wanted but didn't have, was a soul. And so, due to their jealously of humans, when they discovered an unsuspecting victim in the water, such as the prince they had now encircled, they would kiss them with stone cold lips, drag their soul from their body and leave the lifeless almost-corpse to drown._

_A million thoughts passed through Prince Lavi's terror stricken mind as he watched the evil creatures get closer. He was only eleven, the one surviving heir to the thrown. Who would rule his kingdom once he was dead? Would they ever find his body or would it be lost to the depths forever, to be used as shark food? Would his grandfather forgive him for disobeying his orders and walking around the rocks at night alone...._

'_Gah!' he cried out in pain as a flurry of bubbles left his mouth, his voice filtered by the water as the last of his air disappeared. A mermaid had just come forward and slashed him with her sharp silver tail fin. Red streamers of blood rose from his shoulder and disappeared much like his fading air. One, two, three more times mermen and mermaids swam forward and created deep cuts. Much like sharks they liked to weaken their pray before "feeding."_

_Just as his vision was going blurry, and the fear and lack of oxygen was teasing his mind with unconsciousness, however, just as one of the folk swam nearer to suck out his soul, a smaller one rushed forward, beating her away with his tail. It was a merboy, only a few years younger then him by the looks of it, with snow white hair, his pale peach skin in stark contrast to the pale green the others of his kind possessed. However, before he could see what was going on, the world went black._

_Then, there was a blur of feelings and movement. First, coldness and sharp pain in his lungs, then, curiously warm small arms around him and the feeling of rushing upwards, and then stronger cold and icy night air._

_Then, soft lips breathing the life back into his heavy body, and suddenly he gasped, trying to get as much air into his body as possible as he opened his eyes in time to see a pair of startled gray eyes disappear. When he managed to sit up from the rocks he had somehow been placed on he saw a silver tail flash in the moonlight before vanishing into the seemingly calm navy waters._

'_What was...' be blinked and stood up shakingly, coughing slightly, his lungs sore from being a container for salt water, 'D-Did I just get saved by that merboy?' he wondered out loud, rasping as his throat burned._

_He must have, he thought. How else would he have been brought back to the rocks with his soul still in tact?_

'_Oi!' a familiar voice called behind him, 'Usagi! Your grandfather is pissed! You better get... Why are you soaking wet?'_

_Prince Lavi turned to the Japanese boy who had run up to him, an eerily calm and confused look on face. 'I fell in the ocean Yu-Chan, and one of the Merpeople saved me.'_

'_What?'_

'_Yeah...' the redhead nodded, turning back to look at the water. He was vaguely aware of his friend muttering about crazy dreams, but he didn't listen. He smiled, reached up to his neck and undid the locket he had worn since birth. It was made of gold, and had the letter "L" carved into it, and it was the most valuable thing he had besides his crown. He raised his arm, and tossed it as far as he could. It landed a few yards away, dropping into the water with a splash. The Japanese boy raised his eyebrow in surprise and confusion at the prince's odd behaviour._

'_What the hell did you do that for Usagi?'_

_The prince smiled brightly. 'I was just giving my saviour a present. That's what princes do when they're grateful after all.'_

'_Che, waste of gold. No way would a merperson save a human... Come on, Bookman it waiting...'_

'_Yeah...In a minute...'_

_The prince's friend rolled his eyes and started walking back through the rocks towards the castle in the distance. Lavi stayed, looking at the water for a minute, before raising his hands to his mouth and calling out._

'_Thanks heaps!' the eleven year old shouted at the water, 'I'm really grateful!'_

_There was no response, only the sound of waves lapping wetly against the rocks. But still, the prince was somehow sure the merboy had gotten the message._

----

**Wow, longest prologue I ever did. Well, I promise the rest of the story will get better.**

**Thanks to Nella for beta-ing.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Lord Tyki Mykk

**Hugs love and cookies to ****Nella-has-a-clever-penname****, ****Nusku****, ****yuki-tenshee****, ****Naru-Kyou****, `[Rabbits Galore]`, ****MistressYaoi****, ****pockylover123****, I am a lasy bum, ****Evil Snail Overlord****, Koru Da Fern Princess, seaturtlesrox, ****and ****Spiel****. Thanks for the reviews!**

**Oh, and a warning for Laven fans. There is Lucky in this chapter, but the Laven is still implied, and the Lucky is mainly one-sided.**

**I don't own it.**

**----**

Lavi walked through the large oak double doors into the ballroom. The walls were glittering gold, and chandeliers hung from the domed ceiling. A small orchestra was playing soft music in the background. There were people in formal dress on the floor, most talking and drinking champagne. The prince held in a groan of despair, plastered on a smile and walked in, waving at and greeting those who spoke to him. It wasn't that he didn't like these people personally; it was just that he really hated these kinds of events, and quite frankly they were all snobs. They were matchmaking balls, designed to help him find a bride (or groom, seeing as his kingdom supported gay marriage) to marry. It was normally his grandfather or some other member of his court that organised them and handpicked the guests, and they were normally wealthy lords or ladies or relatives to royals from other countries. Generally, those were exactly the kind of people he HATED the idea of marrying. None of then had a sense of humour, and they were too serious for his taste as they only concentrated on kingdom affairs and special events and such crap.

'_Plus I'm only eighteen!' _the redheaded prince added in his mind as he pretended to talk to a girl who kept chatting about what her shoes cost, _'I don't see why I have to get married anytime soon!'_

Normally these kinds of things were only held when the person in line for his throne was twenty-one. However, Lavi had no living relatives apart from his grandfather since his parents had died in a shipwreck when he was three, so if he died before producing the next heir, no one would be there to take over and there would be chaos over who should take over as ruler. It was unfair, but it was the truth.  
So, he sighed as he looked around at the faces, now he had to find someone to marry, preferably a girl but a guy wasn't out of the question. If he married a guy he couldn't directly produce an heir, but one of the man's younger relatives would take that place. Either that or they could adopt. Neither of those choices would mean royal blood, but blood really didn't matter as long as it was their child on paper.

The prince made his way over to the buffet table and took up the plate of yakitori and stood there eating it as he watched. He really hoped this night would be over soon, since his crown was starting to irritate him. He had collar-length red hair, which he normally wore held back by a headband or bandanna, but he was always forced to wear a stupid heavy crown at formal events, as if these people didn't already know who he was.

'Che, you don't seem to be having fun.'

The one-eyed prince looked next to him to see his friend Kanda, whom he called Yu-Chan much to the Japanese boy's chagrin. He grinned.

'What are you talking about? I'm having a wonderful time! I'm being forced to marry someone by picking them out from a bunch of people I barely know!'

Kanda rolled his eyes and tucked a loose strand of his waist length black hair behind his ear. Kanda had been his friend since childhood. Because Lavi wasn't allowed in the streets much he didn't have friends, so Kanda, the son of a wealthy trader well known around the kingdom, was invited to live there as his companion in exchange for money and schooling. The boy hadn't been enthusiastic at first, but Lavi liked to think he'd warmed up to him somewhat, as he'd grown to like Kanda.

'Pathetic.' Kanda rolled his eyes when a group of girls looked their way and giggled, batting their eyelids flirtatiously. Lavi smirked.

'You keep acting like that Yu and people will think you're gay. Maybe we should get married to save me the trouble of finding someone Hm?'

'Even if I was gay, Usagi,' he replied coolly, folding his arms across his chest, 'I'd rather bash my head in with a meat mallet then marry you.'

'I know. I was just kidding...'

His friend rolled his steely eyes at him and went back to staring in annoyance at the crowd. The prince chuckled and finished his yakitori plate, when just then, a man broke from the crowd and approached them.

'Good evening my prince.' He smiled seductively, bowing slightly. Lavi blinked stupidly, and then grinned politely. 'Erm, yeah, good evening... And you are..?

'Lord Tyki Mykk,' he smiled again, took the redhead's hand and kissed it. Lavi gulped and couldn't help but blush a little. This man was tall, with dark hair and tanned skin, with a _very _sexy face. He looked to be roughly twenty-five, a bit old for Lavi's taste as he was still technically a teenager, but not out of the question. Kanda noted the blush on the princes cheeks, muttered a "Well I'm outta here" and left quickly. Tyki stood up and looked at the crowd.

'When you were talking to your friend I couldn't help but overhear you don't like these events.'

'Um, not really,' he shrugged, 'It's not I don't like the people, I just think I should be allowed to choose someone for myself and not from a bunch of handpicked rich people I barely know.'

'Fascinating. I agree with you there I think, however you can't really turn down an invitation from a royal can you,' he chuckled. Lavi smiled a little.

'Um no, I guess not...'

'Besides, finally seeing just how attractive you are in person, well... Let's just say I'd be very happy if you picked me.'

Again he flashed a flirty yet charming smile. Lavi muttered a polite thankyou and turned his head slightly to hide his reddening cheeks. Not looking at the man would probably be seen as rude, but embarrassment and awkwardness tended to overshadow politeness when a sex god was flirting with you.  
A little way off, the giggling girls were looking over there again, pouting that their prince was being swept up by a man, and they started walking towards them to no doubt steal him back. Tyki noticed this, and glanced sideways at Lavi.

'I hear you enjoy reading, Prince.'

'Um, yes!' the teen nodded happily, glad for the change to one of his favourite topics, 'I love reading! Especially comedy books and adventure stories!'

'Well that's something we have in common,' the older man explained. 'Tell me, have you read the book "Eden's path"?'

'Yes I have! It was fantastic! The plot was well developed and the journey was exciting. Really funny at some points too, the way the main character kept failing at being cool.'

'I've been trying to get my hands on a copy,' he explained with a smile, 'Would you happen to have a spare one I can borrow in the palace library? Perhaps we could get away from this silly event and talk more while we find it.'

'Um...ok.'

The man's smile widened. The prince sweatdropped then started making his way through the crowd to lead Tyki out the door. Once in the hall, they started down the hall the redhead knew led to the giant library. On the way, they chatted a little, but apart from the older man's interest in reading it seems they had little in common. Lavi knew if he married this guy he would probably get very bored really quickly. He was all about luxury and power over the people, and Lavi just wanted to have fun and make sure the people in his country were happy.  
Plus, as they entered the giant four-story-high library, he learnt another thing about Lord Tyki Mykk that he hated.

'You're a mermaid hunter?!'

'Why yes,' the man said casually as he stepped across the floor, craning his neck to see upwards. 'But not full time, only as a sport. It's dangerous, but exciting. And people pay big bucks for a mermaid heart.'

'I-I see...' Lavi swallowed his angry retort and walked along the shelves, searching for the book. There was a lengthy silence, before Tyki sat down on one of the comfy white couches lining the floor.

'Some have said as a child you claim to have been rescued by a merboy.' He linked his fingers together and leant forward, staring at him. Lavi turned to look at him and nodded.

'Yeah, I was. I fell in the water and was attacked, and suddenly a merboy with white hair flew outta nowhere, beat them off and brought me back to shore.'

'_And gave me my first kiss...'_ he added mentally. Tyki chuckled.

'My dear prince, I hate to ruin your childhood fantasies, but Merpeople are evil ice-hearted creatures. Most likely that child merely wanted your soul for himself. He didn't save you, chances are what happened was a change in current separated you and washed you back onto the rocks. You were unconscious for part of it yes? Anything could have happened then.'

'I know,' Lavi said flatly. He abandoned his search for the book and sat down on the couch opposite the lord. 'People have told me stuff like that before. But... Well I don't approve of mermaid hunting cos I think maybe some of them are good.'

Again, the man let out a harsh laugh that made an angry vein pop in his forehead. He rolled his eyes, crossed one leg over the other and sat back, waiting in annoyance for his suitor to finish laughing.

'My dear prince,' the man said, traces of chuckles still present in his normally smooth oily voice once the bulk of his laughing fit had been completed, 'What part of "Merpeople have hearts of ice" don't you understand? They hate humans, so that not even a child would think twice about sucking your soul out.' The man then smiled, and leant forward more, 'Want to know something? Merpeople don't even have blood, or a pulse.'

Lavi blinked in surprise, his eyebrows rising. 'They don't?'

'No they don't. They don't even have real bodies. They're made from salt water compressed by some kind of magic to form into a living thinking shape. Their heart is ice because that is the centre of their bodies, and so it is cold to the point of being unmeltable. It also sustains them as that's where their magic comes from. Shortly after their heart is cut out by a hunter, their bodies turn into sea water, though the technical term for this is sea foam as the water is always white and bubbly due to the traces of magic left over trying to reform into a shape. O heart, no love, no care for others, they're just cold and cruel.'

'I-I see...' the prince said slowly. He stared at his lap in disappointment. Perhaps he really had just dreamt being saved. He felt a little empty at the thought, and sighed heavily.

'I guess you're right,' he smiled weakly. Tyki smirked. 'Of course I was.'

Then, without warning, the man got up, sat next to the redhead and put his large hand on the prince's knee. Before Lavi could realise what was going on Tyki had pressed his lips against his. Just then a memory burst into the redhead's mind and he pulled back from the forced kiss, much to the lord's apparent annoyance.

'He really was a good merboy.'

Tyki blinked. 'What? You're still on about that?'

'When he held me he was warm.' Lavi stood up smiling happily. 'Well Lord Mykk I best be going back to the rest of my guests. I need to give them all an equal chance and I don't want them feeling neglected by their prince. You're staying at the castle as well as everyone else right? I'm sure we can find that book tomorrow.'

With a cheery wave, he left the angry looking lord and went out the doors to walk back to the ballroom. Even though mermaid hunting wasn't really a crime he still didn't like that man. He wanted to believe that merboy was good, and somehow, he knew he was. Though... He wasn't really sure why it was so important to him. Chances are he would never sea that merboy again.

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**Thanks to for beta-ing.**


	3. The merboy

**Hugs to ****, ****Evil Snail Overlord****, ****Nusku****, ****MistressYaoi****, Panic, ****Nella-has-a-clever-penname****, ****SoLeo****, ****Kayday****, and ****Spiel****.**

**I don't own anything.**

**----**

Lavi sat at the bench in the castle kitchen, swinging his legs leisurely from his stool as he scarfed down a bowl of breakfast cereal. He preferred eating in the kitchen while the chefs ran around cooking for the grossly over-sized buffet that would feed the guests in the dining hall somewhere above them. Besides, he liked the smell of food cooking, and talking to these guys when they got the chance was a lot more interesting the high class snobs that were his guests.  
He was already dressed despite it being early in the morning, wearing a simple dark blue shirt and white pants, his unruly crimson hair was held back by the usual green headband. He was however, still barefoot.

'Oh, hello Prince Lavi,' the head chef Jerry greeted him as he came in from the main kitchen to chop some vegetables away from the ruckus, 'did you hear? There's a mermaid or merman with an injured tail swimming down by the rocks.'

Jerry was a man with an Indian background, cheerful and friendly to everyone he met, as well as flirting with pretty much every cute guy as well, though he refrained from flirting with Lavi since he was royalty. He always ensured the best meal was cooked for the prince and he had to say, the food was amazing.

'There is?' the redhead blinked in surprise. Merperson sightings during the daytime around here were rare.

'Yes, unfortunately...' the Indian man sighed sadly, 'they say it's waiting for victims to climb near, then jump out of the water and pull you in by your feet. That nice man Tyki Mykk said he'd go down later to take care of the beast... Ooh he's quite a catch, that Lord; I highly suggest you choose him, if it's not being nosy on my part.'

The prince suppressed a shudder and hopped off his stool to take the bowl over to the sink. He turned back to the still-giggling chef and grinned. 'Heh, I do admit he's pretty sexy, but I don't think he's my type. I'll see you later Jerry.'

As he waved and left up the stairway the chef bade him a friendly farewell. Once out in the main hall of his home, he broke into a jog along the red carpeted floor, heading up another flight of stone steps to arrive in his room. He had quite a large room, circular in shape, covered in intricate tapestries and paintings by famous artists, and a four poster king-sized bed with forest green curtains to match the ones covering his view of the ocean through the window. He went over to his large ok wardrobe and sorted through it until he found the first aid kit. He still believed there were some good Merpeople, not matter how many times he had been old otherwise. If this one was good, he would treat its wounds as best he could and make sure it escaped before Lord Tyki got to him. If it was a bad one he would leave it. Either way however he would have to be cautious, as it might claim to be good, only to drag him under and take his soul from his body.

'I wonder...' he murmured to himself as he strapped on his boots and made his way to the door, 'Can Merpeople even speak? I hope so. It would make this a lot easier.'

He shrugged at his own question, shut his bedroom door with a click and started making his way back down the vast hallway towards the stairs that would lead to the ground floor. He hurried as fast as he could, praying his grandfather or someone wouldn't discover him leaving without permission and surveillance. He had a tendency to pull pranks on people in the castle so his grandfather Bookman had ordered people watch him during the day for both other people's safety and for his own in case he wandered from the castle and got lost. The thing that annoyed the prince most about his heritage is that he barely knew his way around outside the castle and the nearby beaches and caves.

He grinned. He was eighteen, almost an adult, but he still loved doing things like pulling pranks and exploring caves. He loved the caves down at the rocks, a vast collection of tunnels and caverns with the occasional saltwater lake at high tide when the ocean rushes in through gaps in the lower cave walls. Kanda and Bookman called it immaturity; he called it retaining his sense of fun.  
He was fortunate enough that he met no one on the way to his journey outside into the salt-smelling air, not even any servants. He escaped past the castles gates without being spotted, and then broke into a quick run down the stone path, which had been worn smooth after centuries of feet, horse hooves and carriage wheels. He eventually came to a bend in the road and continued down straight onto a small grassy knoll, which quickly changed into a rocky surface as he began climbing into a boulder-filled area.  
He searched along the rocks and the beach, looking for a sign of an injured merperson, but all he saw were the gray waves lapping harshly against the stones thanks to the strong breeze coming in from the ocean. He continued on, first aid kit in hand, being careful not to slip and fall in like he had as a child. Soon, he came to the mouth of the first cave, the water flowing into it and disappearing into the darkness. He hesitated for a moment, and then started making his way into it. He knew the cavern at the end of this tunnel had a hole in the roof, so he wouldn't need a torch or a lamp to see. If a merperson was going to rest in a cave after being injured it would probably be this one, as it would be the easiest to swim into. He walked along the natural stone path leading up the tunnel, growing nervous.

----

The cave around Lavi grew darker as he walked forward, careful to keep from slipping into the water that flowed from the ocean beside him. After a few moments of walking in the gloom that always unnerved the prince, his one good emerald eye was able to pick out the dim light ahead of him, signifying the end of the cave, where the pool where the merperson was most likely to be. The crimson haired teen swallowed nervously and clutched his first aid kit tightly for a moment before forcing himself to walk forward. When Lavi finally reached the opening to the room like cavern he was temporarily blinded by the light. The young prince blinks and as his vision came into focus, he was met by the sight of someone he never thought he would see again.

The boy was lying against the rock wall of the shallow pool with his face just above the surface of the water, his snow coloured hair floating around him like a shimmering halo. He had a horrible scar running down the left side of his face, the top of it obscured by his pale bangs. Lavi's eye slid down the ghostly pale skin of the thin boy's shoulders and along his chest, widening at the damage done by the net that had wrapped itself around the slender frame of the merboy. He was bleeding in several places, and the ropes seemed to be digging into his skin even as he took soft, shallow breaths.  
Lavi's eye caught a flash of something golden around the merboy's neck as the clouds that had been swirling around in the sky parted. The royal looked up from the damaged tail and waist of the boy to see what it had been. A tiny golden locket hung around his neck, a worn but still visible 'L' carved into the side.  
Lavi gaped in surprise at the creature, utterly aghast at the locket that hung around his neck, the white hair, the pale skin not common to Merpeople... "C-could... this be... the one who saved me?" he thought, stepping forward carefully. The Merboy shifted slightly, wincing in pain before settling back into sleep. Lavi couldn't believe it. Here he was, the person who had saved him from a horrible death, and Lavi could actually return the favour! The redhead smiled and quickly stripped down to his boxers before sliding into the water, pulling the medical scissors out of the first aid kit before making his way to his saviour.

'Well... looks like our roles have been reversed huh merboy?" Lavi asked the unconscious boy quietly as the elder of the two gently began to work the scissors under one of the thin ropes of the net that were cutting into the merboy like razor wire. He worked slowly and gently, freeing the boy from his bounds little by little. Working the wire out of the skin of his torso was easy enough, he merely had to bandage the bleeding wounds once the netting was removed, but when he got to the tail he ran into difficulty. The wire had worked itself beneath the scales, and if the prince wasn't super careful, he could dislodge the silver pieces and expose the tough fish-like skin beneath. And even after he'd removed netting from a place successfully, he had to hope the bleeding would stop by itself as the bandages could not reach it. When he wasn't even halfway done, the merboy shifted again, and this time his eyes opened.  
The prince stopped and stared, and the merboy stared back. Then, the younger of the two screamed in fear and attempted to escape his grasp, thrashing wildly, sending water everywhere. Lavi cried out and threw himself on top of him, tightening his grip.

'STOP MOVING!' he tried to make himself heard over the boy's cries and the splashing of his tail. Though his weight limited the merboy's movement, it still put strain on the gashes created by the wiry netting. The redhead winced as the sharp fins of the tail slashed at his feet and legs. 'You'll only hurt yourself more! I'm trying to help you!'

The thrashing died down, but the mysterious creature was still tense. The older sat up a little from the shallow water, though he was cautious not to loosen his grip. The merperson stared up at him, his misty silver eyes wide and suspicious.

'I'm not trying to hurt you.' The prince smiled tiredly, explaining his actions in what he hoped was a calming voice, 'I'm just trying to treat your wounds so they aren't made worse. Ok? I just want to help. Can I do that?'

The silver eyed boy looked at him for a moment, then let his head fall to the side, staring at the wall. Lavi, taking that as a yes, sighed in relief and resumed his work on removing the netting.

----

Almost half an hour later, Lavi had helped the boy crawl up onto the rocks so he could dry the salty water from the cuts, and so the bandages wouldn't get soggy while the bleeding was stopping. He pulled on his shirt to fight the cold that was begging to creep up his bare wet chest and sat down with his back against the rocks, close to the nameless mermaid. When he caught the silver-tailed being staring shyly at him he smiled, and he looked away, startled.

'Um...' he took a stab at communication, 'Y-You probably don't remember me, but um... When we were younger I fell in the water and you saved me from the other Merpeople. I actually gave you that locket you're wearing.'

He gestured to the necklace around the younger's neck. The merboy blinked in surprise and cupped the necklace in his hands looking down at it, before pressing it up to where his heart would have been had he had one, closing his eyes in thought. The prince waited, but as he did, he couldn't help but stare. The merboy was truly the one who saved him, with the same hair, skin and face, albeit he was a lot more mature then when he had been a small child. He was quite attractive, around fifteen or sixteen or so. He was definitely a merperson, but the strange thing was... He had blood. Merpeople could get injured, but no matter how bad the injury they never bled as they had no blood, and that combined with their underwater habitat contributed to their greenish-tinged skin. And if he had normal-coloured skin as well as blood then...  
He carefully reached forward towards the smaller's chest. The merboy's eyes opened and he recoiled, a startled look in his eyes. The prince smiled softly.

'I'm not going to cut out your heart; I just want to see if you have a heartbeat. See? I'm not holding a weapon.'

He held up both his empty hands for inspection. The creature's silver eyes darted over them, before he lowered his own hands and allowed access.

'Thanks.' He grinned. He moved forward a bit, and placed his palm upon the cool pale skin. Sure enough, there it was. A comforting _ba-dump ba-dump_ thumping back against his hand. He pulled his arm back.

'Well,' he chuckled, 'You're an odd little guy aren't you? You're a merperson but you're good, and you're heart isn't made of ice. Could that mean you have a soul as well?'

The boy looked up and nodded.

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**I like this chapter.**

**Special huggles to Nella for beta-ing and adding stuff in.**


	4. Gaining trust

**Huggles for ****Nella-has-a-clever-penname****, blahrius, ****whisperypath****, ****Aion Laven Walker****, ****Nusku****, ****SoLeo****, ****Naru-Kyou****, and ****Kayday****.**

**Who else here hates the upgrades for the login area? You can't view your chapter hits anymore, and you have to actually find the story in the main page in order to look at reviews after you've deleted them from your email, plus other stupid things. If you hate it please send them an email telling them to change back, they won't do it unless a lot of people ask.**

**I don't own dgm.**

**----**

'Well,' he chuckled, 'You're an odd little guy aren't you? You're a merperson but you're good, and you're heart isn't made of ice. Could that mean you have a soul as well?'  
The boy looked up and nodded.

The prince blinked in surprise, and for a moment he only sound was that of the small waves lapping gently against the rocks. The merboy stared curiously at him, obviously not expecting a reaction like that.

'Um…' the prince found his voice and scratched his head, 'Seriously? You have a soul? But… You're just made of magic and water aren't you? How can you…'  
He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. The boy stared at the ground, still clutching the locket around his neck. He seemed to open his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it again, deciding against it. The redhead sitting next to him smiled softly and leant forward.

'You can't talk?' Lavi asked, trying to be helpful to the younger of the two. The merboy shook his head.

'Oh, so you can talk?' he enquired. The smaller of the two nodded shyly, and the redhead made a noise of understanding, as he sat back. 'I see,' he chuckled lightly, 'I guess with humans trying to kill you all your life I must seem pretty suspicious. It's ok that you don't wanna talk to me, but I promise you, I won't hurt you. Um... So are you feeling ok? Is there some mermaid rule you need to be in the water, or are you ok sitting here?'

The younger creature nodded again indicating that it was fine for him to sit out of the water. The prince nodded also and moved a little closer, admiring how the scales on the merboy's slender tail glittered in the sunlight coming from the ceiling. The smaller gave him a shy sideways glance, and then to the older teen's surprise, he let go of the locket around his neck, reached for the remainder of the bandages in the discarded first aid kit and began to attempt sloppily binding the wounds on Lavi's legs he'd created when'd slashed him with his tail during the struggle. Lavi blinked in surprise, touched by the act. The creature had obviously never bandaged something before, but he was attempting to copy what Lavi had done to his own wounds; a generous act despite the distrust still held for him. It was actually pretty cute how he clumsily wrapped the bandages around Lavi's leg while examining it curiously.

'Um, thank you.' The merboy pulled away after finishing and fiddled absent-mindedly with the locket. The prince watched him for a moment, then smiled again and leant forward to fix the bandages on his legs. 'You really like that thing huh? You must do, keeping it all these years....'

'I-I...'Lavi looked up in shock as he spoke in a small stuttering voice. The small creature was looking up at him shyly from beneath his snowy bangs, his voice cracking a little no doubt from lack of use.

'I-I'm grateful for gifts... And for you help with my injuries. Not many humans are k-kind to me...'

'Well you can be sure I will be. Speaking of which,' he stood up and reached for his pants, 'you need to get out of here. A guy, possibly a few more people, are coming down here later to hurt you, because they think you're bad. Can you swim ok?'

'Yes...' the smaller teen nodded, 'B-But I can't go out into the main ocean.'  
The redhead raised his eyebrows as he buckled his belt. 'Eh? Why not?'

'Th-the other Merpeople are angry at me for helping humans instead of killing them. If one of them finds me, they will kill me.'

'I see...' the prince scratched his head and glanced around. He should have known this boy probably wasn't popular among his own kind. He sighed heavily, trying to think, and then turned back to the merboy.

'Ok, um, how about this; there's a bunch of caves all around here, and in one of them nearby is a small lake that doesn't connect to the ocean outside. What if I carried you there so you could hide, then I could lead the hunters away from you? They probably won't suspect it since normally a merperson isn't able to cross land, a tail makes it kinda hard.' Lavi grinned at the slender boy who seemed to flush slightly.

'I don't know...' the merboy stared down at the cave floor, looking apprehensive, 'You might be trying to put me in a place I can't escape so it's easier for the hunter. Yes, that's what you're doing....'  
The prince stared, then smiled softly and crouched in front of him, reaching out to place a hand gently on the merboy's pale shoulder. The skin was cool, slightly damp, and softer than the finest silk. He couldn't help but rub it a little to comfort the smaller, making him look up with frightened misty eyes. 'Look,' he sighed,

'I can't expect you to trust me, but... Well you've got a better chance of living if you listen to me. Yes, I might be trying to trick you, but if you try to escape to the main ocean you'll die anyway, won't you?'

'I suppose...' the boy admitted reluctantly.

'Besides,' Lavi grinned supportingly, 'I'm prince of this country; you know what being a prince means? It mean's I take care of people in my kingdom, and technically you're a resident of my country's oceans, thus you are under my care. If I promise that you'll be safe, then I have to keep that promise forever. its my duty as a prince! Understand?'

'I guess...' the merboy said quietly. The eighteen year old nodded, and then wrapped his arms around him in order to scoop him up. He cried out in surprise and clung to his shirt tightly, making Lavi chuckle. He couldn't help but notice how thin his waist was, and how smooth the scales on his tail felt. He also felt alarmingly light. Did this kid eat enough?

'Come on, I'll take you to a safe place.'  
After finding the right tunnel, Lavi found himself emerging in another cave, slightly smaller then the one before, almost the entire floor covered by a small lake. It wasn't very deep or wide, but for a merperson of the small boy's size he would be able to swim about comfortably. It was salt water, though not a part of the ocean, as it was merely left over by flooding, extremely high tides and waves caused by rough storms. The light was much dimmer in here, since there wasn't a hole in the roof but the merboy said he could see in the dark. The prince set the creature down in the water and smiled.

'Um, so, what do you Merpeople eat? Raw fish or something?'

'Yes.' He nodded shyly as he sunk into the water so that it came up to his neck. Lavi wondered how he could breathe in both water and fresh air, but decided to ask that later when he'd gained more of the boy's trust.

'Right, I'll bring you some fresh fish down later once I've gotten rid of the slime ball who wants to hurt you. You look kind of hungry.'

'Yes I am...' he nodded slowly, smiling shyly at Lavi, 'Thank you...'

'You're welcome!' the redheaded prince smiled widely and turned to leave but before he could, the merboy called out to him again.

'U-Uh, wait!'

The redhead stopped and turned back. 'Yes?'

'Um... My name... My name is Allen...'  
Lavi blinked, but before Lavi could respond with his own name, Allen slid the rest of the way down and disappeared into the lake, nervous embarrassment colouring his face pink. He chuckled, and started making his way out of the maze of caves. He'd managed to get Allen to trust him, if only a little, and he felt warm on the inside and very accomplished. The merboy seemed like a nice person, but the mystery behind him was going to drive him mad with curiosity. He shagged it off; pushing the thoughts aside and started making his way back up towards his castle.

----

Half an hour later, Tyki Mykk was searching the caves, a large, jagged knife in hand and Lavi in tow. The prince really didn't like spending time with him, but he feigned interest in mermaid hunting in order to come along without looking suspicious while protecting Allen.

'I'm glad you decided to change your mind about Merpeople, Prince Lavi.' He smiled flirtatiously at the teen as he helped him up into a cave Lavi would have been able to get into by himself, 'They really are terrible creatures.'  
Lavi didn't trust himself to speak to Tyki without telling him off, but he managed to smile weakly and nod. He and the lord started going into the cave along the stone path, but Lavi stopped when they came to the room he'd found Allen in; now empty of the beautiful creature that had once taken refuge there.

'Well I guess there are no mermaids here!' he declared cheerfully, clutching the dark-haired man's arm, as Lavi started to steer him away from the tunnel leading to Allen.

'The caves beyond this one don't open up to the ocean, so it'd be impossible for them to get into the other ones. Maybe we should go search along the beach.'

'Yes...Perhaps...' the older man nodded absent-mindedly, looking around before adding 'This place is quite lovely Prince Lavi. Do you come down here often?'

Yeah...' the redhead nodded, still tugging on his arm in an attempt to steer him away from the tunnel leading to the lake. However then lord stood firmly as though not being pulled at all. He started walking towards the tunnel entrance.

'I think I'll check the rest of this place out, just to see the rest of it out of curiosity...'

'Uh, no!'

The prince launched forward and slammed the man against the wall, pinning him there. Tyki stared at him in surprise and suspicion, so the prince did the only thing he could think of that would explain his actions; he kissed him.  
He winced when the man gripped him around the waist and kissed back, he felt absolutely disgusted in himself. _'Crap...'_ he thought as he pulled back before the kiss deepened, _'I've become a slut... Kissing a guy I don't even like or know that well!'  
_Meanwhile, Tyki grinned at him seductively, raising an eyebrow, and the prince forced a smile.

'U-uh, I just wanted to tell you I've narrowed you down for the choice of my fiancé!' he declared happily, stepping back. 'You've made it into the top ten!'

He knew he sounded stupid and shallow, but it was the best he could come up with in such a strained. Fortunately, it worked on such a sleazy man, and his seductive smile widened further. 'I look forward to beating the competition, my Prince.'

He gave a low bow, and turned to walk down the tunnel that led outside, the notion of exploring deeper into the stone maze forgotten. The redhead sighed in relief and leant against the cave wall, clutching his heart. He had averted that crisis for now, but now he'd persuaded a man he hated that he was attracted to him, and now he also had to choose another nine people he didn't know just keep his cover from being blown. He groaned in agony at the thought, pushed himself off the wall and made to exit the cave. Tonight after dinner, he would bring down Allen some fish.

----

**Not the best chapter, mostly filler, but necessary.**

**Special awesome huggles to NELLA the super-beta!**

**REVIEW!**


	5. Mana

**Well, I woke up at eight in the morning, and I have nothing to do today. No school, no shopping, I'm not meeting any friends, and yet my body decided to wake me up before I could have a decent sleep-in. I'm such a bitch.  
Anyway, that means I can start on this chapter early!**

**Hugs for ****blahrius, ****Nella-has-a-clever-penname****, ****tinytruefan****, ****Kayday****, ****Evil Snail Overlord****, MistressYaoi, ****Nusku****, ****SoLeo****, ****yuki-tenshee****, ****Aion Laven Walker****, ****Spiel****, and ****whisperypath****. Keep reviewing guys.**

**----**

Allen rested on the bottom of the small lake, head lying on his folded arms which were supported by a smooth rock, his breathing slow and calm as small bubbles rose to the surface and disappeared with every breath. His silvery eyes were drooping sleepily; still tired from the strenuous swimming he'd done earlier that day to escape from several mermen who were chasing him. However he wouldn't allow himself to fall asleep, because if he did, the redheaded prince might come back with the hunter at anytime and kill him. The prince had given his word he would keep him safe, but the merboy just couldn't quite believe he was trying to help him, or that he was really a prince. From all the princes he had seen in fairytales, princes had been blond with blue eyes, perfect looks and fine....What was it called? Clothing? However, this prince had crimson hair, one green eye, with the other covered in a black patch of cloth, being damaged in the past no doubt.  
In fact... his clothing hadn't been princely at all! They'd been a simple set-up consisting mainly of blue and white, with large strap-up boots that looked so covered in mud he had first thought the mud to be part of the actual shoe. He claimed to be a prince, but he dressed as simple as the fishermen and hunters he had seen. Moments later after seeing those men, however, they'd thrown things at him, yelling and screaming, while they attempted to stab through his chest with that strange harpoon thingy...

He shivered at the memory and sat up slowly, the momentum in the water leaving his hair floating about him like a soft, silky cloud. He sat his tail on the rock, staring up at the shimmery surface of the lake, looking to see if the redhead had returned. He hadn't yet, and Allen wondered if the prince was just going to leave him to starve.  
Earlier, he'd heard the prince's voice joined by another smooth, oily voice. He'd found that voice frighteningly familiar, though couldn't quite picture where he'd heard it before. Probably just another one of the hunters he'd run into over the course of his life, and the fact the prince knew him unnerved Allen a little, but the merboy hoped the strange prince would keep his word.

Allen sighed heavily, and looked down as he clutched the locket around his neck, cupping it in his hands, enjoying the way it glinted in the water as it floated just a few millimetres from him his palm. This was the reason why he had decided to trust the prince with his voice, and name. Although he had been helping people like that for a long time, saving them from drowning and being attacked by sharks and mermaids, leading them to where fish where, pointing out where the riptides and currents where. The humans had never figured it out, thinking he was there to hurt them. Allen got tired of the abuse, was starting to lose hope in the humans but one day, he'd saved a small redheaded boy, and the boy had thrown his locket in the water, shouting "Thanks."

Perhaps the prince was being truthful? After all, when the hunter had been out there with him, he hadn't come in the cave, meaning the prince had led him away. Perhaps he deserved a little more trust then he was getting.

A small swishing sound came from above. The snow-haired merboy glanced up to see a hand sticking into the water, moving about to make noise, like some kind of signal. He hesitated for a moment, and then pushed up from the rock, swimming up to the surface, peering above it so that only his eyes came over the top of the water, wary. The prince was crouching on the rocky shore, holding a bucket and smiling cheerfully. It was most likely night-time by now, since the cave was lit by several lamps that had been placed along the edge.

'Hi Allen,' he greeted him and held out the bucket, 'I got you some fish.'

The merboy stared at him suspiciously, inching slightly closer towards the bucket, reaching out, then hesitating and withdrawing his hand, cautious. The redheaded prince smiled again.

'It's not poisoned. Besides, poison can't hurt Merpeople, right?'

Allen nodded, his stare turning shy. The prince might not look very princely, but his smile was genuine and full of laughter. Allen liked that; it was a kind smile, better then the manic smirk hunters had when catching a merperson and digging out their heart. He came over the top of the water a little more, showing his own smile, albeit it was nervous and small.

'Th-thank you...' he took the bucket with pale hands. However, he didn't go back under water, instead settling on one of the submerged rocks along the edge of the lake. The fish in the bucket wasn't as fresh as he was used to, caught this morning by the look and smell, but still, he picked one out, seized a sharp stone and began scraping off the scales. To both his fear and enjoyment, the prince sat did not leave instead sitting cross-legged on the shore, head tilted while he watched curiously as the merboy scaled the fish expertly, then sliced it open and somehow pull all the bones out in one go. He chuckled before speaking.

'My name is Lavi by the way.' Allen couldn't read that well, but his name started with the "La" sound, which was represented by the letter "L", which was engraved on the locket. further evidence that he was not lying and the merboy turned to look at Lavi, smiling softly.

'Lavi... That's an odd name. I haven't heard it before.'

'Hm? Heh, yeah it is kinda uncommon...' the prince laughed and scratched the back of his head, 'It mean's young lion. My mother decided on it when she saw I was a redhead, which is kinda weird since lions don't have red hair, but whatever...'

Lion. Allen had never seen a real lion, but one of the books given to him had a story about a creature called a lion, a small cub that was supposed to eat meat, but only wanted to love and care for others. It was a land animal, supposedly brave with shaggy golden... What was that thing animals were covered in? Fur?

'Your name is interesting,' the prince suddenly spoke, dragging Allen from his memories. 'Allen...That's a pretty common name, though I was kinda surprised to hear that's what you were called.'

'Why is that?' the merboy raised his eyebrows. Lavi shrugged. 'I dunno, I guess I was expecting your name to be a bit more... Sea-ish.'

'What did you think my name would be? Starfish? Ocean-boy?' Allen asked with a raised eyebrow.

The older of the two blinked, and then snorted in laughter. The merboy felt his face grow hot in embarrassment and slight annoyance and went back to eating his fish. The flesh was soft and cold, and tasted good, almost as good as just-caught. Despite his hunger after not being able to get a decent meal in two days Allen ate slowly, savouring the taste. He had gone through three fish before Lavi spoke again.

'How are you wounds healing up?' he asked switching to his knees as he leaned forward over the water, reaching for the smaller creature, waving for him to come closer. Allen paused, still nervous around him, but gathered his courage and moved towards the prince. Lavi grabbed onto his hand and gently pulled him from the water, sitting him next to him on the edge of the lake so he could inspect the deep cuts that wound around his body. Allen shivered in surprise when he felt a hand brush gently against one bad one on his back. It wasn't that it felt bad, being touched gently like that by someone, but...

'_I'm so unused to kindness...'_ he inwardly sighed. The prince meanwhile, had finished his inspection, and came around to grin.

'They've started healing, and there aren't any signs of infection,' he explained simply, 'but if I were you I wouldn't do too much exercise. It could stretch the scarring and re-open the wounds. Ok?'

'Ok...' Allen nodded timidly and stared down at his tail. Lavi frowned, and placed a hand over Allen's heart. The merboy tensed when something came near his heart, due to his survival instinct, but allowed it. He deemed Lavi trustworthy, for now.

'Can't get over it...' the older of the two chuckled and shook his head in disbelief, leaning back on his elbows. Allen swivelled a bit so he could watch him, and flushed lightly when Lavi smiled at him cheerfully.

'Hey Allen, I know we don't know each other that well, but wanna explain why you have a soul? If you actually know, that is...'

The merboy blinked, caught off guard. Was it ok to tell the taller redhead? It wasn't like it was a big secret, or that the story could be used for bad purposes. Still, he felt protective of the memory, as it had been when he'd been truly happy, all thanks to Mana.  
But... Lavi was kind to him and wanted to help him. He was like Mana. So, he would be allowed to know. He swallowed nervously and stared at the stone floor, giving a shy nod. The prince sat up straight and inched closer, staring with unmasked interest.

'I-I... When I was younger I never was able to catch any humans, and didn't know quite how to, and... There was this man who lived on a beach... Named Mana.' He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. 'Every day he would come down in the morning and sit on the sand to read, just out of reach. I always came there, waiting until he made the mistake of sitting a little too close where I could grab him and take his soul.'

'Did you?' Lavi blinked, looking a little nervous. To his relief Allen shook his head.

'No I didn't. One day I got fed up with him, and said to him plainly "I want to suck out your soul." He put down his book, smiled at me like you do, and asked me why I wanted to. I explained it was because humans were ugly yet they had the one thing Merpeople could never get so they didn't deserve it. He then looked thoughtful, laughed, and said "Why, no matter how many souls you steal you'll never gain one for yourself, so what's the use of killing out of jealousy?"' Allen paused and smiled at the memory before continuing with his story,  
'I-I thought about that, and realised he was right. I went back the next day and asked what I had to do to get a soul for myself, and he said I had to be a good person and be kind to others, and not let jealously and spite over-run me. So, I did as I was told... And soon...' the merboy looked up smiling, 'I started changing into a good person. I didn't hate humans anymore, and I didn't feel the need to take their souls. My heart of ice started to melt, and a real one formed and I gained blood. My skin changed from green to flesh colour, and one day... I woke up, and it just hit me that I had a soul.'

Lavi blinked. 'Wow.... Could that happen to other Merpeople?'

'I don't know...' Allen sighed sadly, 'I tried to tell them what Mana had told me, but they wouldn't listen... they told me I was only an impressionable child and that when I got older I would understand... But I don't want to kill people.'

'Well that's good.' The prince smiled warmly, 'What about Mana? What happened to him?'

'He died.' The merboy's voice was suddenly flat and lifeless. Lavi gasped.

'What?! How?!'

It seemed he'd gone too far with the questions, as Allen suddenly grabbed the remainder of the fish, slipped back into the water and disappeared. The teen sighed heavily, got up, and started heading out the caves, empty bucket in hand.

----

After Lavi had returned the fish bucket to the kitchen, he'd snuck back along the halls towards his room with the intention of taking a bath and going to bed. It was late, well past midnight, and he would probably sleep in by accident, but he didn't care. He felt happy; Allen opened up to him a lot more today. He hoped he hadn't upset him by asking what had killed Mana as it was obviously a painful memory, but he'd made great progress nonetheless. He wasn't really sure exactly why he wanted to befriend Allen as badly as he did, perhaps it was just because the merboy had saved his life all those years ago, but he knew he had to hide him from other Merpeople as well as hunters as well, because his death would be a sad and unjust one. After Lavi's parents, the king and queen had died, he'd developed an almost chronic aversion to death. He had been unable to read books that had death in them without feeling stressed and unwell, if he saw a dying animal on the road he got the uncontrollable urge to help it, and as a child the very mention of death was enough to send him into tears. He'd gotten better control of this phobia now that he was older, but still, If there was a death he could prevent, be damned if he was going to ignore it.  
He came to his bedroom, pushed open the door, and was surprised to see Kanda sitting on his bed, arms folded across his chest crossly.

'There you are, Usagi!' he growled, standing up as the redhead came in, 'Where the hell have you been?! I had to cover for you!'

'Eh?' the prince blinked innocently. Kanda rolled his steely eyes.

'That sleaze Tyki came by when I was waiting for you in here. I had to tell him you were sick and had gone to the doctor in town.'

Lavi smiled and sighed in relief. 'Thanks Yu-Chan...'

'Didn't you spend most of this morning with him?' the Asian man raised his eyebrow; 'I don't like that guy Usagi. He's creepy, coming to your room this late at night when you're probably asleep... I think you shouldn't have picked him for your top ten or whatever you called it...'

The redhead nodded tiredly, walked past his childhood friend and collapsed onto his soft mattress, rolling over to stare up at the ceiling. The ceiling was decorated like the night sky, with a dark blue background, whitish stars and bluish clouds. Kanda, still standing, stared at him for a moment before huffing in annoyance.

'You're not even listening to me are you? Baka, when a person offers you smart advice a guy like you should listen religiously... But I guess your brain is so lacking you're beyond my help...'

Lavi sat up and giggled. 'Yu-Chan, if you really thought that you wouldn't have come to express your concern for my wellbeing.'

'My what?!' the Japanese teen snapped, 'Why would you think _I_ would be worried about _you?!_'

'I dunno,' the prince shrugged, 'why would you come to my room late at night and wait around for hours and cover for me when a sleaze comes by, only so you can rant about how you don't think I should marry said sleaze? You insult people cos you care, that's so cute!'

Lavi smiled brightly, his one emerald eye glinting, and Kanda blinked, looking extremely angry. He opened his mouth to retort, but then he found he had no comeback, so instead he rolled his eyes and turned away stubbornly, muttering the all purpose "Che" as he walked from the room. The redhead chuckled and got up from his bed, crossing the room to close his double doors. He loved Kanda. There had been many rumours about them being together, to the point Bookman had sat them both down to intervene (Kanda wasn't royalty or of noble birth of any kind despite being from a wealthy family so marriage for them would be out of the question) but really, the prince didn't love him romantically, only as his best friend. People though he was a cold inconsiderate asshole, but Lavi thought he was funny. As he entered the bathroom, turned on the hot water tap and began to undress from his day clothes, he smiled. Would he perhaps grow to love Allen just as much? And would Allen be his friend in return? He definitely hoped so.

As he sunk into the bath naked however, he frowned. Kanda had a point about Tyki. Coming to his room when he was probably asleep was creepy. Unfortunately, after his display in the caves, if he told the lord to back off, he might get suspicious and check the caves not connected to the ocean, find Allen, and kill him. Allen would be unable to go out into the main ocean until his wounds fully healed, and then the prince was uncomfortable about that because hunters in boats and other Merpeople were out their waiting for him. Tomorrow, he would go back to Allen and then try to figure out a way to solve the problem.

'_It's gonna be hard coming up with an answer though..._' he smirked as he reached for the soap, _'Seems like he can't go anywhere, and he can't stay in a lake for the rest of his life.'_

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**Wow, almost three thousand words long. PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Huggles to nella for beta-ing. Sorry for rushing you...heh...**


	6. Lessons in love

**don't own dgm. Huggles to ****Nusku****, ****whisperypath****, ****Aion Laven Walker****, blahrius, ****Angelique-Rays****, ****Nella-has-a-clever-penname****, ****babo123****, ****Evil Snail Overlord****, ****AnimeFanAmber****, ****tinytruefan****, ****MistressYaoi****, ****, and ****Naru-Kyou****.**

**----**

Prince Lavi sat at the table, his grandfather across from him staring at him sternly while a large amount of files were spread before him. They seemed to have the names and summarised biography of the guests on them. It was shortly after breakfast, but the redhead hadn't been able to get down to the caves to feed Allen yet, so hopefully this meeting wouldn't take long. He sighed heavily ad rested his chin on his arms, yawning boredly, wishing his grandfather would leave him alone.

'Ok Panda,' he smirked when his grandfather looked angry at the nickname, 'What is it you want to talk about now?'

'Your marriage,' the old man explained simply, sorting through a pile of papers in front of him. The teen groaned dramatically in annoyance. 'Again? we've gone over it so many times...'

'Yes again. You are taking too long deciding Lavi....' the former king stared up at his grandson intensely, 'It's good you chose ten people to pick from, but you need to narrow it down quicker. I want you married by the end of the month.'

'What?!'Suddenly the prince was on his feet, staring with a wide eye. The end of the month was roughly three weeks away.

'Panda!' he yelled, 'I can't do that! I don't even like these people! If I marry any of them I'll probably end up killing myself out of boredom! Why do have to marry one of THEM?!'

'Because then we'll have an heir. Stop complaining, you have a duty as prince. Besides,' the old man raised his eyebrow inquisitively, 'I hear you and Lord Tyki Mykk have become rather... Close.'

Lavi blinked, then flushed angrily and sat down, folding his arms and crossing one leg over the other; similar to the way Kanda sat when he was mad about something.

'We aren't close, Panda-gramps. We kissed once and that was it.'

'That classifies as close, you fool.' Bookman stacked up his papers into a pile and stood up, 'You seem to like him better then the others, so I've decided that is who you will marry.'

Lavi's eye snapped open, alarmed.

**'WHAT?!'**

----

Lavi kicked a stone out of the way angrily as he made his way into the cave, shattering it as it hit the wall. He'd attempted to talk his grandfather out of the decision, but the former king hadn't budged. He was going to marry a person he greatly disliked and there was nothing he could do about.  
And to make matters worse... Tyki's bratty niece Road was going to become queen after Lavi died! Although he'd only met Tyki at the matchmaking ball, he'd met Road several times before, and if she took over when she got older, it would spell doom for everyone. That girl was insane!

'UGH!' he shouted and threw the bucket he was carrying on the ground in a frustration, the fresh fish scattering everywhere. He ran his hand through his crimson locks stressfully. While Bookman was no longer king, until Lavi ascended the throne everything he said was law, including who his grandson married. Lavi loved his grandfather, but sometimes the man tended to do what HE thought was best, rather then what the younger teen knew was good for him, like NOT marrying Tyki the bastard!

He growled in annoyance, bent down to pick up the fish from the ground, before making his way down

the tunnel and into the cave. The surface of the lake was still in the dim light, but as soon as he bent down to splash the water with his hand, Allen appeared, smiling shyly. He had a cute smile, though it was small and Lavi hadn't seen it much. The redhead couldn't help but note the face Allen made when he smiled; his silver eyes seemed to twinkle like stars.

'Hey,' the prince forced a grin and held up the bucket, 'I got you breakfast.' The young merboy nodded and swam closer, reaching for the bucket, muttering a quiet "thank you" and settling on the submerged rock to eat. Lavi sat on the stone floor and sighed heavily, again running his hand through his hair as he watched Allen eat. He had a lot of stuff to figure out.

'Um...' he looked at the merboy, deciding to sort this particular thing out first 'I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have asked about Mana, since it's obvious his death must have been painful. I was stupid.'

'It's ok... I'm happy to talk about him, just please don't ask about... That.'

The prince nodded in understanding, smiling comfortingly to the younger merboy. 'Ok... Mana seemed like a nice man though, helping you change for the better even though we're taught to fear and hate Merpeople all our lives. What was he like?'

'He was wonderful,' Allen smiled brightly. Again, Lavi's attention was drawn to the way his eyes glittered, they were even more beautiful then the shiny scales on his tail. 'He was really kind, he taught me lots about stuff, and showed me magic tricks, and even made me water proof books so i could learn to read. He cared about me a lot more then any Merpeople did.'

'He must have really loved you.' The redhead grinned tiredly, wishing he didn't have to marry someone who he didn't love.

'Loved?' Allen tilted his head in adorable confusion. 'What is that?'

The prince sweatdropped and sat up straighter, inching closer to the lake. 'You don't know what love is?' he received a headshake in answer and scratched his head, 'Well... Love is an emotion.'

'Like jealousy?'

'Sort of... But different at the same time. Uh...' he thought hard, trying to come up with a way to explain it, 'Well, it's that warm happy feeling you get when you see someone who you're fond of, and no matter what that person does you'll forgive them and help them because you love them or they love you back. It's.... uh.... Care and devotion for another person I guess.'

'I see....' Allen nodded, looking thoughtful. 'Um... Well, if love is care and devotion to another person, d-does that mean maybe...You love me?' the hopeful tone of Allen's voice did not go unnoticed to Lavi.

'Um, pardon?'

'Well, you care about me, a-and you seem devoted to keeping me safe...' the creature smiled shyly.

The prince chuckled. 'Yeah, I guess I do love you. But you gotta know, there are several different kinds of love.'

'There are?'

'Yeah. Like, there's love between friends, love between family, and love between sexual partners.'

'Um...' Allen stared at the ground, 'I'm not sure what those things are...'

Again, Lavi sweatdropped awkwardly. He should have expected Allen wouldn't know much on these subjects, but did that mean he had to explain everything? He himself wasn't even sure how to word feelings, as generally, humans grew up automatically knowing this kind of thing. However, since he was born from water, Allen probably didn't even know what a mother or father was, and since Merpeople had cold hearts, they weren't ones to be friendly with each other. He took a deep breath and smiled patiently.

'Ok, um... Humans aren't born from water like you are. We're born from other humans.'

'Like animals? Or fish?'

'Yeah! Like animals... Sort of... Anyway, family are the people you were born from, which are called parents, as well as the people who were also born from those parents, which are called brothers and sisters. When you love those people and are close to them, that's family love. You get that?'

'Yes...' Allen nodded, 'I think so...'

'Ok. Now when you love someone who isn't a member of your family, that's either love between friends, or love between sexual partners. Friends... Um, ok, you're close with them and like being around them but aren't related to them, and you don't want to... Um, make more people with them. Um... You Understand that?'Allen nodded again, and Lavi went on to continue but stopped and blushed. The only love he had left to explain was sexual romantic love, and well, that was awkward. He felt like he was trying to tell a five year old where babies came from.

'And sexual partners?' the merboy leaned forward, interest. The redhead sweatdropped and smiled nervously.

'Erm... Sexual partners, are when you love someone who you aren't related to them, to the point you want to live with them for the rest of your life, which is called marriage, and uh, make more people with them...'

'Right... Like a mate?' Allen asked slowly.

'Yeah...' he sighed in relief, sitting back, 'Like a mate. Only... The relationship is stronger, and it can be between two guys or two girls as well as a guy and girl.'

Allen made a thoughtful noise, downed the last of his fish, and swam over to return the bucket to the prince. He leant his chin on his arms, looking up nervously curious. He smiled slightly.

'Um, Lavi? Do you have a ma- I mean s-sexual partner?'

'Hm?' the prince blushed again, eyes widening. 'Uh, no! Well... Yes, but... I don't love him. I have to marry him, but I don't want to. It's a prince thing...'

The merboy looked confused. 'But... You said sexual partners love each other? Are you being forced to love him?' Allen looked horrified at the thought of that.

'Sort of...' the prince sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He winced as he combed through several snags. He'd run his hand through his hair so many times out of stress today his headband had slipped down to his neck and his hair had become full of knots.

'Um, well when you're a prince if you don't find a partner by the time you're twenty-one you get one chosen for you, so you can make another person to take over ruling after you die. However, even though only I'm eighteen, my parents both died when I was younger, so if I died tomorrow in some accident there wouldn't be anyone to take over and my parents wouldn't be able to make any more people, so I have to get married sooner. The guy I'm engaged to... I don't like him at all but I really have no choice in the matter. My grandfather is forcing this on me...'

Allen stared down at the ground sadly and sighed. He didn't like the situation his friend was in at all, if it was ok to call him a friend. 'That isn't fair Lavi. I don't know a lot about humans, just stuff from my books, but I'm pretty sure it's not nice to force someone to do something you don't want to do.'

'Hm...' Lavi sat forward and yawned widely, 'You're right Allen, but there's nothing I can do. Anyway,' he painted on a smiling mask, 'I think we should discuss moving you from the cave. The guy I'm marrying hunts mermaids for sport, and if he came down here again he'd kill you.'

Allen again sighed, more heavily this time. 'If I stay, I am dead. If I leave, I am dead. Maybe y-you should just leave me here to save you the trouble of carrying me.'

'Nah,' the crimson haired teen smiled. He reached forward and patted the boy's damp hair, surprised by how silky it felt despite being wet. The merperson looked up, surprised by the touch, and his grinned widened into one of confidence. 'Don't you worry, we'll figure it out. I'll make sure you'll be safe, even if it means putting you in a giant fishbowl and telling people you're my pet.'

Allen blinked in confusion, obviously not knowing what a fishbowl or pet was, but didn't ask. Choosing silence. Lavi suddenly realised something, and he smiled again, not taking his hand away from the top of the boy's head.

'Hey, you know what? You're not acting shy and suspicious around me anymore. Does that mean you trust me now?'

It was Allen's turn to smile. He nodded. 'Of course I trust you. You're my friend and I love you.'

For some mysterious reason, this caused Lavi's face to heat up.

----

Lavi ended up staying until he missed lunch, and by the time he remembered, it was only two hours until dinnertime. He bade Allen a reluctant goodbye, and then sprinted as fast as he could back up to the castle. He was not looking forward to dinner despite his haste, because Tyki would be there wanting to discuss their engagement. He shivered as he came to his room and went in, planning on changing and taking a bath like his grandfather insisted he do before dinner with a guest, but to his surprise, yet again, Kanda was sitting on his bed, looking suspicious. The redhead sighed.

'Kanda, before you start, yes, I'm marrying a sleaze and no I can't back out.'

'I'm not here for that, Baka.' The Japanese teen stood up, staring intensely. The prince was really sick of everyone giving him intense stares today, it was really creepy. He was about to say that to his friend before Kanda interrupted him.

'Alright, spill; why you keep disappearing at breakfast and dinner with a bucket of fish?'

----

**Review!**

**Hooray for Nella the beta!**


	7. Bye Bye Allen?

**Don't own this.**

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'Alright, spill; why you keep disappearing at breakfast and dinner with a bucket of fish?'

The prince swallowed nervously and forced a shaky smile speaking with a slight tremor in his voice.

'W-what ever do you mean Yu-Chan?'

'I mean...' the Japanese boy glared, his dark eyes glinting, 'That when I asked for sushi for dinner, Jerry said they had already run out of salmon. I wouldn't normally care what weird habits you get up to during the day, but when it interrupts my lifestyle you damn well better have a good explanation.'

'Um...' the redheaded teen racked his brain for a story to satisfy Kanda, desperate to keep Allen's existence a secret. Unable to come up with anything, he decided to stall. 'Um... I thought you only ate soba? What's with the sudden change in diet?'

'Sushi is good as a dessert after soba. I wanted sushi, but there wasn't enough fish left over to make any. Why are you taking them?'

It was obvious Kanda wasn't going to be tricked by a change of subject; after all, the slightly older teen was impossible to argue with, and almost always got his way when they got into 'lovers spats' as Lavi fondly called them. The redheaded prince sighed, and looked up smiling.

'Looks like you caught me Yu-Chan! You see, the other day I found this injured dolphin and I've been feeding it until it heals!'

Lavi desperately hoped Kanda couldn't pick out his lie. The other teen stared at him up and down for a moment, a look of slight disbelief on his face, and was about to speak when somebody knocked on the door. The redhead could have kissed whoever it was for interrupting tem, at least, until he saw who it was...

Tyki pushed the door open without waiting for Lavi's answer with a seductive smile painted on his face. 'I thought I heard you Prince Lavi. How was the trip to the doctor yesterday?'

'Eh? Doctor? Oh right!' the redhead suddenly remembered the cover story Kanda had told his fiancé, 'It was good. My cold has cleared up.'

Tyki nodded, and then glanced over at Kanda who was glaring heatedly at Tyki, not shy from showing his dislike. The lord glared back, and the prince could have sworn the temperature got several degrees colder. After a moment however, the oldest of the three smiled again. 'Pardon me Kanda; could you please give me a moment alone with my fiancé?'

'No. We were talking. Wait your turn.'

'Oh come now,' his smile widened, twitching slightly. He grabbed the teen's arm and started pushing him towards the door, 'This will only take a minute! We ARE getting married after all.'

Kanda's glare increased as he looked at the hand of the shoulder.

'If I were you I'd move that hand, scumbag.' kanda growled, looking thoroughly disgusted.

Tyki sweatdropped, took his hand back and looked at the redhead skeptically, who was inwardly doubled over in laughter though his face only showed a polite look of interest. 'My prince, please tell your friend to leave so I can talk to you _privately.'_

Lavi didn't like the way he said "privately" but decided if the twenty-five year old tried anything he could just tell him to back off. He nodded and sent a meaningful look at Kanda. The Japanese teen looked unsure but shrugged and left, muttering a quiet "whatever it's none of my business" as he did. The prince couldn't help but notice, however, that the door was left a crack open, and he could still see a dark eye peering in.

'My,' Lord Tyki smiled as he rubbed his arms and looked around, 'I think the room just got warmer don't you agree? I don't know why you keep that Kanda boy around; he leaves such an angry and depressing aura.'

'Yu is my friend,' Lavi said, almost snapping, 'If he wishes to leave, he can, but until then he stays.'

'He only came here for companionship right? Well why would you need him since you're marrying me? I think you should get rid of him.' Tyki said in a tone that implied Lavi couldn't think for himself as he shrugged casually.

Lavi's eye twitched. Damn that panda for choosing this guy to engage him to! He could tell Kanda was getting angry too, since he could practically see the door burst into flames. He folded his arms and smiled at Tyki sweetly.

'Kanda isn't some dog I'm taking care of due to loneliness. What is it you came here for Tyki?'

He regretted asking that question instantly. Tyki's gaze turned lusty and flirtatious, and he stepped forward, placing his hands on Lavi's hips, reaching around slightly. Lavi jumped back in surprise at the unwelcome touch, which only made Tyki's smile widen.

'Aw come now my prince, no need to be shy anymore! We're getting married remember?'

'So?' Lavi's one green eye rolled in exasperation, 'Doesn't mean I like you that way.'

'But you were so enthusiastic in the caves...' the lord reached out to cup the teen's cheek, but Lavi slapped the hand away, thoroughly pissed off. He stalked past him angrily towards the door.

'Yeah, well I changed my mind.'As he walked past the man, Tyki reached out and gripped his arm, pulling him roughly back. The door was suddenly thrown open and Kanda ran in, holding a sword which he had seemingly pulled from no-where.

'Oi! The rabbit said he doesn't want you touching him! So back off, or you'll find yourself missing an important part of your body!' He threatened angrily and raised the katana in a fighting stance, keeping it pointed downwards in the direction of a... sensitve area on all males. Tyki blinked, then smiled sadistically and let of of the mildly frightened redhead. He bowed, and excused himself politely from the room. Once he had left, Kanda resheathed the sword.

'Che, you should really keep a leash on that freak Usagi, he's bad news.'

'Yeah...' the prince smiled weakly, 'Trouble is I think he _wants _me to put a leash on him. Thanks Yu.'

'Stop calling me that.' He said flatly. Lavi chuckled as they walked out into the hall. Lavi didn't have time to change before dinner now; besides, he didn't count Tyki as a guest worthy of him dressing formally for, after that perverted display in his bedroom. However, just as they rounded the corner that lead to the dining hall, Kanda started going down another corridor which led to the outside path. Lavi blinked.

'Eh? Aren't you coming to dinner?'

'Not hungry. That crazy bastard you have to call your fiancé caused me to loose my appetite. I'm going for a walk.'

----

In reality, Kanda was in fact, heading down towards the caves near the rocks, his keen eyesight guiding him through the clouded salt-smelling darkness. He could hear waves breaking loudly down by the shore as he carefully picked his way along the rock strewn path. He didn't believe that dolphin story one bit, since dolphins never came to this area, and was now hell bent of finding out why Lavi had lied. He'd seen Lavi heading down here a few times with the buckets of fish, and though it was none of his business, that was his fish goddammit and he wanted to know where it was going.

When he made it down to the shore, he crept carefully along the rocks, making sure not to slip and fall in. He'd come here a few times as a child with Lavi, albeit reluctantly since he'd had better things to do then explore caves, but he knew a little bit about navigating around them thanks to those forced trips with The prince so he was confident he wouldn't get lost. He frowned as he came to the mouth of the first one and walked along the rocky path. Tyki had mentioned kissing Lavi here, and although he often pretended not to care, Kanda hoped the stupid usagi wouldn't get cornered by the sleaze again. He couldn't always be there to threaten someone for him when the idiot got in trouble.

'Che, idiot should have taken up sword fighting like I did...' He came to the back of the cave and started along the second tunnel. It was a full moon tonight, so the holes in the roof of the stone created enough light for him to see once the clouds in the sky passed over.

At last, he came to the second cave at the back of the first, then one dominated by a lake. He blinked in surprise as the surface of the lake rippled even though there was no breeze as if something was moving around in it. Cautiously, he tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind his ear, picked up a small stone by his feet, and threw it into the water. Seconds passed by with nothing happening, but then, the surface of the way broke, and a head covered in snowy white hair appeared.

'HOLY SHIT!'

Kanda cried out loudly and stumbled back in surprise, clutching his rapidly beating with one hand and the cave wall with the other for support. Staring up at him was a merboy with clear pale skin and a curious, slightly frightened look on his face.

'U-Uh... are you a hunter?' he asked in a panicked voice. The Japanese boy raised an eyebrow in surprise. He'd never seen a fearful merperson before, let alone one that could talk. He shook his head, and the merboy gave a small smile. 'Oh, so did Lavi send you? He's really nice; he always wants to make sure I don't go hungry. Are you his friend too?'

Kanda anger veined. This was where his sushi was going?! Lavi was taking care of a freaking merperson?! Taking care of something that could very well kill him!? He pushed himself off the wall and walked forward, making sure to stop before he came too close. The boy stared up at him politely. Again, he blinked. Around the small figure's neck was the locket he remembered Lavi throwing into the water when they were both kids. He raised his eyebrow sceptically.

'You the kid who saved the prince from the other mermaids nine years ago?' the merboy nodded happily. 'Right. So Lavi has been taking care of you and hiding you from his fiancé?'

'Yeah...'

'And you haven't tried to suck out his soul?'

The younger creature tilted his head. 'Um, no... why would I try to kill the person who is taking care of me?'

Kanda kept up his sceptical glare, though he had to admit he was surprised. The boy wasn't lying; since Lavi had been feeding him for at least three or so days and still had his soul. Experimentally, the Japanese teen took a few steps forward. Rather then reach out to pull him into the water; Allen actually backed away a little, as though afraid. Maybe Lavi had a point when he went on about how not all Merpeople were evil. This one sure as hell wasn't 'evil'.

'Che....' he sighed and glanced back down at the teen, 'Look. You don't seem evil so I'm not going to tell anyone you're here. However, I don't want you here, because you will cause trouble if anyone else ever found you. So you have to leave, got it?'

'But...' the smaller boy's silvery eyes widened for a moment, 'I... If I go back into the ocean the other Merpeople would try to kill me if they saw me.'

'Just don't let them see you, moron. You seem to care about that idiot Lavi right? If anyone found you he would get into so much crap for hiding you. They'd think he was in league with the mermaids and he might get arrested, even if he is the prince.'

'Oh...' the merboy looked sadly at the water beneath him. He didn't know what "arrested" meant, but he could tell from the way this older boy said it that it wasn't something that Lavi would want to happen to him.

Kanda glared down at him in annoyance. He didn't want Lavi to get in trouble, even if he'd never admit it, not to mention he didn't want his fish disappearing into a damn merperson's stomach anymore. That meant this kid had to go. Fortunately, mentioning the trouble the baka usagi would get into seemed to have struck a cord with this boy, for he looked up a second later looking depressed.

'Does... Does Lavi want me gone because of the trouble I could cause him?'

'Not at the moment, but he'll regret helping you once he has to deal with the consequences.'

The merboy nodded slowly and sighed heavily. He held out his hand, dripping wet with salty water.

'Please carry me to the ocean? This lake doesn't connect outside and I can't crawl out myself.

Kanda hesitated, still suspicious of the boy, but pushed aside the feeling as he growled in irritation, grasped the hand and pulled the merboy out of the water, picking him up in his arms as he did. He didn't attempt to suck out his soul as he carried him back down the tunnel, and he felt a little guilty kicking him out like this, as he seemed innocent and genuinely scared of hurting Lavi. He set him down in the ocean once they came outside, and the boy turned to smile.

'Um, my name is Allen. You must be a really close friend of Lavi's, to want to protect him like this. Weren't you afraid of losing your soul?'

'Che, yeah right. I aint afraid of a little moyashi like you.'

The merboy blinked confusedly for a second, 'Well, anyway thanks for carrying me!' Allen smiled, waved, and dived under the crashing waves. After watching the dark water for a second, Kanda turned and started running back up to the castle he called home. The rabbit was in so much trouble when he got there, but at least the merboy was gone and he'd be able to eat sushi all he wanted.

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**I will repost this once it has been beta'd and examined.**

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	8. Lenalee

**Not owning it.**

**Huggles to ****Aion Laven Walker****, ****Nusku****, ****whisperypath****, ****yuki-tenshee****, ****flicca****, ****Nella-the-Yaoi-Fangirl****, ****AnimeFanAmber****, ****Evil Snail Overlord****, ****, ****Koru Da Fern Princess****, ****Naru-Kyou****, blahrius, and ****babo123****. Keep up the reviews guys!**

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A coral reef was a beautiful place to live. The water around was clear and perfectly blue, thousands of fish of every colour and design swam about, and the corals and rocks formed to create underwater caves and coves in which to hide in from things like sharks or Merpeople.

Before Allen had come to Lavi, he'd lived in a hidden cave in a coral reef, spending his day catching fish to eat, reading the tattered waterproof books Mana had made for him, and sometimes daring to swim outside into the dangerous open to look for people to save from the rest of his villainous race. It wasn't the most pleasant existence, living in fear of being killed constantly but it was an existence nonetheless. It was his existence.

Now as the young merboy lay stretched on the sand within his cave, reading one of his books, though he thought he liked existence with Lavi much better. Lavi was a great prince, funny and real, not like this picture perfect one in the story, rescuing the princess from the big tower the mean old woman had put her in. He sighed heavily and sat up, putting his book down to rub a kink in his neck. He missed the redheaded prince badly, and it had only been one night. Allen wondered if maybe it was because he had never had a friend before.

'But Lavi's friend said if they found me he would get in trouble...' he sighed heavily, a stream of bubbles coming from his mouth as he exhaled, 'God I wish I was human.... Then I could live with him and not get him into trouble...' Allen said to himself with a dreamy look in his eye. Of course, that was just wishful thinking. Feeling slightly more depressed then he had before, he picked up another book, one he hadn't read in a while. However, just as he'd opened the first page, a voice spoke, and he cried out in shock, dropping the book.

'Wanna be human huh?'

Allen hastily looked around for the voice, fearful of it being a mermaid, but instead found the source coming from a small hippocampus sitting on a rock shelf above him, a bored look on his greenish horse-like face. He blinked. Hippocampus weren't common in this ocean.

'Um...' he nodded nervously, 'Yeah... I wanna be human...'

'Cute...' the creature rolled his eyes sarcastically, 'Well, I wanna be a merperson but we can't all have what we want.'

'You don't wanna be a merperson,' Allen told him sadly, 'we're evil.'

'At least you have thumbs though... Damn Lenalee won't even give me hands...'

Again, Allen blinked his silvery eyes in confusion. He pushed off from the cave floor and swam up, floating in front of the moody hippocampus. 'Who is Lenalee?'

'She's a sea fairy. I asked her to make me a merperson but she wouldn't do it, cos her magic can't change who you are on the inside or something like that...' the seahorse looked him up and down with its big black eyes, 'Although... You seem pretty human already kid. You can talk; you seem to have a heartbeat going there... I reckon she might be able to help with your wish. She wouldn't be able to make you human outright, but she could probably give you legs.'

'R-Really?' the merboy felt hope well in his chest, 'Well where is she? Can you tell me?'

'She's about seven leagues north. You'll find her in a cave like this, only much bigger and surrounded by shells. Got it?' the little creature asked indifferently as it yawned.

'Yes...' the boy nodded enthusiastically and started swimming towards the exit of the cave, 'Thank you!'

He paused at the rocky mouth and glanced around for signs of danger, before swimming as fast as he could north with strong beats from his tail. If this Lenalee girl really could help him, then he could see Lavi again and he wouldn't get in trouble! He wondered briefly if Lavi would want to see him again, but they were friends right? So of course he did. And if he didn't want him there when he got legs, then he could just go out on his own and live somewhere else. It wasn't a good thought, but at least he wouldn't be hunted all the time.

----

Allen sped through the water, as close to the bottom as he could get without disturbing the sand. The merboy could only pray that no other Merpeople saw him, as the creature wasn't really sure he could make it if too many of them swarmed him.  
Sunlight filtered down from the surface of the ocean, causing his sliver tail and hair to glitter in the cold water as he moved swiftly and soundlessly towards his goal. The only time Allen ever cursed his hair was when he was trying to be subtle and it caught the light, like some sort of beacon.

In the distance, a familiar glitter stopped Allen in his tracks. Two other Merpeople were lazily swimming in his direction, searching for humans to prey on. Allen dashed behind a rock and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping beyond hope that they hadn't seen him. Mana had always said he had amazing eyes.... maybe he had seen them before they could see him?

The gentle swish of the pair swimming by reached his ears and once it had faded away Allen heaved a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was to get killed right before he had the chance to live a better life...  
After a long while, Allen finally spotted the cave. It was in an area he had never visited before. the seaweed was softer than he was used too, and the fish seemed be more friendly, they came right up to him and circled curiously before swimming off. There at the base of an undersea cliff was a cave, with a path of brightly coloured shells leading up to the entrance. Allen swam forward cautiously and peered into the dimly lit tunnel, and started swimming forward, hoping that this Lenalee person could help him...

'Um, hello?' he stopped when he came to the end of tunnel and called out cautiously. It was a brightly lit tunnel, with glimmering walls that had rock shelves full of potion bottles and other oddities. In the middle was a large boulder, and sitting on the stone combing her dark green hair with a spiny fishbone was who the merboy assumed was the sea fairy.  
Lenalee took the form of a naked girl with long flowing hair, and translucent see-through blue wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. When he entered the cave, she looked up smiling.

'Hey there!' the fairy said cheerfully, putting her fish bone comb down and standing up. Allen smiled nervously, deciding the girl seemed nice, and swam forward, though still a little cautious. 'Um...' he swallowed thickly, 'Are you Lenalee?'

'Yes I am.' She nodded, still wearing that gracious smile. Allen chose his next words carefully, though he was in a slight rush, excited by the prospect of seeing prince Lavi again.

'Um... M-my name is Allen... And uh...Well, I was talking to this hippocampus, and uh, he s-said you could turn me human... Or close to it at least...' he looked up hopefully, 'Is that true?'

'Human huh? Well....' the fairy clicked her tongue and looked the merboy up and down, hands on her hips as she considered him thoughtfully. Allen felt a little nervous being looked at so closely, but held still and tried not to fidget. Finally Lenalee spoke.

'Well, yeah, I think I could help you. I can't make you human fully, but I could give you the appearance of a human... Though...'

'Though...?' the boy blinked, not liking where this was heading.

'Though the way my magic works... Well, it needs payment. Let me explain; basically, in order to receive something you need to give up something important to you, in the same category as the thing you wish to receive. For example, if you wanted to resurrect the dead, you'd have to give up the life which was most important to you, being your own. In the category of limbs, you would have to give up the limb which was most important to you, and so on. Do you follow?'

'Yes... I-I'd like legs please, and I don't mind giving up anything...' the merboy nodded. Lenalee smiled, and walked over to one of the shelves. She shuffled through the bottles, before pulling out a strange black compass. She hurried back over and held the compass in front of the merboy. Allen couldn't see any change in the device, but they girl's lavender eyes seemed to glitter in understanding as she nodded. She smiled warmly.

'Lucky you. Your tail, which falls into the limb category, is the most important limb to you, so that's what you'll be losing. You don't need to lose any arms.'

'Eh?' the teenaged male blinked, 'But that doesn't seem fair. Won't I be losing my tail anyway once I get legs?'

'Not necessarily. If your arm or something had been more important you would have ended up with no arms but both legs and a tail. Funny huh? So,' her smile widened, 'Are you sure you want to get legs? You can regain your tail any time you like afterwards, but once you get your tail back you can never have legs again.'

'Um... Yes... Please give me legs...'

The fairy nodded, and walked back over to replace her compass and busy herself in searching through the bottles again. The merboy stood there, feeling a knot of nerves in his stomach. He hated being a merperson; the risk of being killed always present, the abuse, the lack of companionship and love, and he was sure he wanted this change, but all the same he felt fearful. It was a massive change, now matter how welcome it was, and after living as one thing all his life he was sure it would take a while to get used to being human. In the conversations he'd had with the prince, just how little he knew about humans had been apparent. Pretty much all he knew were things from the storybooks he'd read, and what Mana and Lavi had taught him, which was not actually that much, so adjusting would be hard.  
Still, he smiled as he thought of seeing Lavi, his heart warming; it would definitely be worth it.

'Ah!' Lenalee made a noise of triumph as she held up a large bottle filled with purple liquid, 'Here it is! You really sure you wish to do this Allen?'

Allen nodded as she walked back over, and reached for the bottle. She smiled warmly and handed it to him before he uncorked it.

'You'll retain most of your merperson aspects, like communication with sea creatures and being able to breathe underwater, so try not to let other humans see that you aren't normal or you might be put under suspicion. Though... Can I ask why it is a being like a merperson would want to be human? I thought you creatures thought legs were ugly?'

'Well... Most do,' the merboy stared down at his glittering tail, knowing this would be the last time he would have one, 'But... Well I want to be human because I love one and would like to see him every day. So... Can i just drink this now or do I need to find the shore first?'

'Either one. It won't take effect until you reach the shore, since the ingredient used to make legs in a potion is dirt from the land. Take it whenever you like.'

The silver-eyed boy nodded, then raised the bottle to his lips and drained the bottle in one go, coughing as he felt the hot liquid slide down his throat.

----

**Short, crappy, but the plot moved at least. Sorry there was no Lavi finding out Allen is gone in this chap, but his reaction will be explained next chapter... Which might be a bit late btw.**

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	9. Can he stay?

**We****ll guys, this is the last chapter of sea foam until the Christmas holidays. Pray it comes swiftly before I forget all the ideas for future chapters I have, cos I've done that before. Bad Harms, bad! –Hits self-**

**And you know what sucks? My dad is going to Japan next year for a skiing holiday and he's refusing to take me with him. Grr him.**

**I don't own dgm or any versions of the little mermaid.**

**-----**

'ALLEN!' the prince took a deep breath and called out again, 'COME ON ALLEN! WHERE ARE YAH, BUDDY?!'

'He's not out there idiot.' Kanda huffed, standing back from the rocks with his arms folded in annoyance. Lavi glanced back at him and glared angrily. 'You don't get to talk remember?'

'Che... Why am I even here? I don't care if we find that stupid giant fish.'

'He's not a fish!' the redhead snapped. He turned back to look out over the calm ocean, searching the waters for the top of a white head or the glitter of silver scales. Kanda had come home from his "walk" last night saying he'd released Allen back into the ocean, possibly to his death, so as repentance he had to help search for the merboy. It was only fair...

---

'_YOU STUPID RABBIT!' Kanda yelled, throwing open Lavi's bedroom door and making the redheaded prince sit up in shock. Kanda stalked in, slamming the door shut as a murderous aura crashed around him like waves in the ocean. He grabbed Lavi's collar and lifted him off the bed before the startled prince could speak._

'_A merperson?! You were taking care of a God damned merperson?!'_

'_Wha-wha...' Lavi's good eye widened in fear and shock and he gasped, 'Y-You found Allen?!'_

'_YES I FOUND FUCKING ALLEN!' the Japanese boy angrily tossed the prince back onto the bed, walking back towards the door, then turning around and walking towards the bed in a kind of violent pacing as if unable to stand still due to how much anger he was releasing, 'I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU EVEN GAVE IT A NAME YOU DAMNED FOOL!'_

'_Allen's not an "it", he's a "he",' the redhead frowned, struggling into a sitting position, 'and Allen is his own name, not what I gave him. Calm down for a second Yu so I can explain-'_

'_The fish already told me.' The dark haired teen's eyes glinted with the same malice though his voice was relatively calmer. 'Some shit about you stopping him from getting killed and such. Look Usagi, I put up with your stupid "some-Merpeople-are-good" theories, but actually taking care of one and risking getting arrested and punished is just too far! Did it even occur to you the kid was trying to get on your good side to suck out your soul?'_

_Lavi tilted his head. 'The fact I'm still alive says to me that he's going to do no such thing.' He stood up, smiling calmly and went to place his hands on Kanda's tense shoulders. 'Just let me take care of him until I can figure out what to do with him Ok?'_

'_Che, you don't have to. I already made him go back in the ocean.'_

'_WHAT!' The prince violently shoved Kanda away, a horrified look on his face. Kanda stumbled a little, surprised by the force. 'Yu! He could die! He doesn't deserve that!'_

_Kanda raised his eyebrow. 'He's just a merboy, Usagi. He's not important.'_

_In response a pillow was thrown roughly in Kanda's face._

_----_

So now here they were, walking along the rocks and beaches in the early morning fog looking for a possibly murderous magical creature that may not be anywhere near here. Kanda felt the whole thing was incredibly stupid, but Lavi had forced him to come down using the threat of locking him in the castle dungeon. The dungeon was never really used anymore, but that didn't mean someone could be locked down there and be undiscovered for weeks. Normally the prince wouldn't be able to force him to do anything, but in reality Lavi was actually quite strong, maybe even enough to match in hand-to-hand combat if he was angered enough. The grouchy teen growled in annoyance and stared over the water.

'OI! FISH BOY! GET YOUR SUSHI-ROBBING ASS UP HERE!'

And at that moment a pale hand shot up from the dark ocean and grabbed onto Lavi's boot. The prince cried out in surprise and stumbled back, wrenching his shoe from the hand. The hand grabbed onto the rocks and pulled the rest of its body up to reveal the torso of an exhausted looking Allen. A look of joy crossed the redhead's face and he ran forward to crouch in front of him, holding his shoulders so he didn't fall back into the sea.

'There you are Allen! I was getting worried!'

'S-Sorry...' the merboy smiled. Suddenly Allen cried out in pain and slid back into the water, his grip on the rocks weaken. Lavi grabbed his hand, attempting to keep Allen out of the water and the area around the smaller creature was dyed red with blood. Kanda's eyes widened in surprise, and Lavi gasped in horror and pulled the merboy out of the water and fully onto the rocks.  
This time, both of the eighteen year olds gasped in shock. Instead of a silver-plated tail, what followed after Allen's torso was a pair of long slender legs, covered with bloody wounds running up and down the inside of his thighs and calves, as though the tail had separated and pulled the skin apart there. Lavi blushed and looked away quickly when his gaze travelled to just below his waist, though he wasn't sure why he was embarrassed.

'L-Lavi...' the boy murmured, his eyes sliding shut, 'I don't feel good... My tail hurts really bad...'

Lavi and Kanda exchanged shocked, clueless glances, both feeling utterly stupefied. Where had this boy's tail gone?!  
However, they could worry about that later. The blood coming from the wounds on his legs wasn't stopping, and now that the prince looked closer, the smaller teen had a fever.

'Yu! Run back up to the castle and get them to call a doctor!' he cried, taking off his jacket to wrap it around the wet boy in his arms. Kanda stared at Lavi as if he was stupid.

'What?! We can't take a merperson up there!'

Lavi stood up, holding the boy. He frowned uncharacteristically. 'In case you haven't noticed, Yu... HE DOESN'T EXACTLY LOOK LIKE A MERPERSON ANYMORE!'

Unwilling to argue, the Japanese teen nodded and ran on ahead up the hill, Lavi following after, slowed somewhat by the now-unconscious light weight in his arms.

----

After getting up to the castle, Kanda ran to find someone to get the doctor while Lavi carried Allen to his room. Not caring about getting blood on the sheets, Lavi laid the unconscious boy on the bed and ran to his wardrobe to find the bandages. A million questions buzzed through his mind, mostly involving how Allen had turned human all of a sudden, but he pushed them all to the back of his mind as he found the bandages. He hurried back over to the bleeding male on the bed and started bandaging his legs, feeling awkward and embarrassed at seeing him naked.

This was turning out to be a really weird day.

After he finished bandaging up Allen's legs, Lavi went to the bathroom to fetch a basin of water and a wash cloth, and upon returning sat on the edge of the mattress, soaked the cloth and placed it gently on the boy's forehead to cool his fever. Whatever he had done to change his tail was making him sick, and the redhead hoped he wouldn't be like this for long. Lavi then noticed the creature was shivering, and pulled the covers up, hoping to keep him warm.

'Mn...' Allen stirred and rolled onto his side slightly, shuddering. The prince quickly repositioned the cloth so it wouldn't slip off, and Allen's silvery eyes fluttered open.

'Um...' the prince grinned nervously, 'Hi... You feel ok?'

Allen blinked in confusion and looked around, eyes widening a little in surprise at the dryness and grand design of his location. the former merboy attempted to sit up, but grunted in pain, grimacing as his wounds stretched and started to reopen, making Lavi grab his shoulders gently and push him back down. 'Don't move too much! You'll reopen your wounds! You're in my bedroom... It's a place where humans sleep.' He added, seeing the boy's inquisitive look.

'O-Ok...' Allen nodded slowly in understanding as The Prince removed the cloth from his forehead to check on how Allen's fever was doing. Lavi was surprised to find it was a lot better then it had been a minute ago. He sighed and replaced the cloth, then looked down at Allen, a tired smile gracing his features.

'So Allen, wanna tell me where your tail went?'

The white haired boy blinked for a moment, then pushed back the blankets that were covering him hurriedly, to stare at his bandaged limbs. His pale face broke into an amazed grin as he looked up at the prince.

'I got legs Lavi!' he cried out in pure joy, trying again to sit up but falling back down to the mattress from weakness. 'I-I really got legs!'

He clung to the redheaded teen's arm excitedly, pulling at it and pointing. Lavi blushed, trying not to look where the boy was attempting to direct his attention to, and pulled the covers back over him, hiding his nakedness. Lavi chuckled in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

'Yes I see that Allen, but I wanna know how you got them.'

'Eh?' the creature blinked, 'Oh... Th-this sea fairy called Lenalee gave me a potion that traded my tail for legs.'

'Is it permanent?' the prince enquired. Sea fairies were common in the area, and were generally a benign species, but they weren't known for selfless acts among other creatures. Allen nodded.

'I-It's permanent as long as I want it to be. I-I can stay with you now...' he smiled shyly, 'A-And you wont get in trouble and I wont be killed. You'd like that, right? I can stay?'He looked up desperately, clinging to the older boy's arm.

Lavi gaped for a moment, at a loss of words, but before he could begin to form an answer in his mind, a third voice in the room cleared his throat. They both looked around to see Kanda standing in the doorway, arms folded tightly across his chest and glaring at them in anger.

'It's your friend!' the merboy on the bed declared happily. A vein throbbed in the Japanese teen's forehead, but he ignored the smaller figure and gestured to the prince.

'You, Usagi. Get out here.'

Lavi blinked for a moment, then nodded and looked back at Allen. 'I'll be right back ok? Don't move.'

Allen tilted his head in adorable confusion, but smiled and muttered a shy "Ok." The redhead and stood up to follow his friend out the door.

----

Kanda led him out of the room, then down into an empty hallway where they could talk without risking being overheard. He stood, hands on his hips and feet apart, a stern expression on his feminine face.

'He is NOT staying here.'

'YES, he IS.'

'No he's not Baka Usagi!' the teen punched the other's shoulder, 'If that sleaze found out... Or your grandfather...! Ugh!'

He carded his fingers through his long hair at the thought of what could happen to them both. Lavi smiled, and placed a hand gently on his friend's shoulder in an attempt to soothe the stressed Japanese.

'Yu, calm down.' He explained slowly, 'Allen has nowhere else to go, and he went through the trouble to get here and get legs for us, so I say he should be allowed to stay. I appreciate your concern though.'

'Che,' he slapped Lavi's hand away as though it were a pest and rolled his dark eyes. 'Usagi, I'm not concerned for you. I'm concerned for me. You're a prince, so your punishment wont be too bad. I'm just the son of a trader, so I could end up a lot worse then you. I don't need that kind of trouble, so don't screw up you idiot.'

'I got it...' Lavi chuckled. 'But still, if we just come up with a believable back-story, I'm sure no-one will suspect a thing.... Like maybe we found him swimming away from a shipwreck! And he has amnesia! Something like that.'

That earned him another "Che" from the stoic boy. Lavi smiled, laughing lightly before he turned and started walk back towards the room to tell Allen he could stay.

----

**Well, please review! And awesome thanks to nella for putting up with me while she beta'd! You get a long break now Nella! Yays for you!**

**REVIEW!**

**Wah! I don't want a break from betaing!! I want my Harms to stay!!! -cries-**

**Don't cry Nella! I'll be back! –hugs-**


	10. bathtime and a baby lion

**I don't own this.**

**Get well soon katsura hoshino!**

**--**

The doctor looked down at the boy sitting on the bed a curious look on his face. The boy called Allen looked back, gripping the sheet beneath him nervously, his bandaged legs lying motionless as they had since he had arrived. He turned to the prince and his companion, both of them looking nervous as well.

'So.... He's the only survivor of a shipwreck? And that's how he obtained these injuries?'

'Yes!' Prince Lavi nodded, his crimson locks bouncing with the momentum. Kanda rolled his eyes at the slightly shorter teen and folded his arms impatiently, with all of his nerves on edge. The doctor would be the person most likely to be able to tell that Allen was a merperson, so if he thought something was suspicous... things could get out of control...

The doctor could tell the three boys in the room were hiding something, but decided not to venture into it as it was none of his business. It was the prince after all. He gathered up the remains of his medical supplies, piled then neatly into his black bag and turned once to the prince, buttoning up his coat in preparation to leave.

'His legs seem weak though the rest of his body seems fine. I'm not sure why that is, but give him lots rest, plenty to eat and if he doesn't improve in a few days call me again. Good day your highness.'

He gave a brief bow, and left the room, shutting the door behind him with a gentle snap. The redheaded prince grinned widely and sat on the edge of the bed, hand on his heart.

'Thank god!' he sighed happily, falling onto his back. Allen smiled at him somewhat unsurely.

'Um... So did I pass the human test?'

'Eh? No that wasn't a test! It was a medical check up to make sure you aren't sick. If a doctor didn't see you weren't human...' he flipped onto his stomach and rested his chin in his hands, smiling at the merboy, 'Then we're in the clear!'

'Think again Usagi.' Kanda frowned and stepped closer to the bed, hands on his hips, 'The boy knows barely anything about humans. He didn't even know what a thermometer was.'

'Then we'll just say he has total amnesia! You worry too much Yu-Chan....'

'Don't call me that.' Kanda spat back at the prince angrily. He ran his hands through his long black hair in exasperation. He'd decided not to tie back his hair this morning, mostly out of laziness. Living with Prince Lavi was always stressful, because he would always do something stupid without thinking of the long term consequences. It was normally the Japanese boy who saved him from messes, but if he tried to save him from this he or both of them could end up in jail or worse.

Not to mention what they would do to Allen....

He glanced over at the pale figure on the bed. Lavi had sat up and was helping to pull the blankets over his legs. Though he was weak he had already learned to sit up without help. After the doctor had come and treated Allen's wounds, they'd found a clean pyjama shirt and a pair of boxer shorts for him to wear until they could get him some clothes that fit, and he was currently smiling up at Lavi like a lovesick puppy, mostly oblivious to the trouble he could cause if he even hinted at what he was.

'Ano...' the small merboy said suddenly, his face going thoughtful, 'Your friend is right Lavi. I don't know much about humans. Do you have books on humans I could read?'

Lavi blinked, then sweat dropped. 'Um, we might... But I think we should leave that for later ok? Are you hungry or anything?'

'A little....' he smiled sheepishly. 'Do you have any fish-'

'No.' Kanda said flatly as Lavi snorted in laughter.

'Sorry, Yu-Chan likes fish too...' he got up from the bed, smoothing the wrinkles from his clothing, 'But I'll go get you something else to eat. We'll be right back ok?'

Allen nodded, a cloud of disappointment covering his heart as the two older boys left. He shifted on the soft thing he had under his head, a pillow they called it, and laid back down on the bed, snuggling under the covers. He liked beds he decided, they were warm and soft... Being from the cold ocean, he'd seldom experienced such wonderful things. He smiled to himself, giggling as he though aloud to himself.

'What if I decide to never get up from this bed again? It would be a waste of Lenalee's magic for sure....'

He sighed, shutting his eyes blissfully as he relaxed. He hoped Lavi would get back soon. Kanda, or Yu-Chan or whoever he was a good person too, but he'd decided that the one eyed prince was going to be his favourite person from now on. He reminded him so much of Mana... Lavi was so kind, and thinking of him made him feel warm and Happy and soft without needing a bed. Yes, Lavi was a like bed, but better!

Again, he giggled at the thought, before hearing an odd mewing sound and scratching coming from the wall behind him. Allen rolled over and sat up, wondering what on earth it could be. To his surprise outside one of the many square glass-things set in the wall was a small furry animal rather like a small lion. It had golden fur and was scratching at the window with its claws, its fluffy tail wagging impatiently. The merboy tilted his head curiously at it, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

'What on earth... Are you a baby lion?' he asked this out loud, but he'd seen baby lions in picture books, and they looked quite different from this creature. It was perched on the branch of the tree outside, and kept leaning across to scratch at the window, retreating before it could slip and fall. Since this room was quite a few stories up, if it fell it could hurt himself really badly.

Again, it clawed the glass mewing pitifully, clearly wanting to be let in.

Allen frowned, lifting back the covers to look down at his bound legs. He could move them, but he wondered if he was strong enough to support his weight. Another desperate "let me in" mew came through the glass from the odd little animal, so rather then worry about himself, the merboy swung his legs over the side of the bed, planted his hands firmly on the mattress beneath him and pushed up as hard as he could, willing himself to stand on his own.

His legs shook uncontrollably as he finally forced himself into a standing position, and he had to grab the large wooden box thing next to the bed to keep his balance. His knees felt like jelly, and he glanced at the creature outside. It had leaned across the space to claw the glass, but this time it's footing loosened, and it retracted hurriedly, gripping the bark of the tree fearfully.

'Uh- H-hold on baby lion!' Allen called, standing up slightly straighter, grunting with effort, 'I-I'm coming!'

Thinking quickly, he leaned against the wall, slowly but surely making his legs move towards the glass, not taking his weight from the wall as he took his first wobbly steps. Already he felt tired and strained, but the creature was waiting and making desperate sounds. Allen gathered his strength, staggered forward as quickly as he could. Tripping over his own feet, he came crashing to the ground with a cry.

'Ouch!' the merboy winced and struggled to sit up. He looked up at the glass, and the creature stared down at him, doe eyed. 'Meow?'

Allen smiled, crawled forward a little bit, gripped the sill of the glass and fumbled with the latch keeping it shut. He slid the pane to the side. The animal mewed happily and jumped into the room, crawled into the merboy's lap and curled up to go to sleep. Allen sweat dropped.

'Um... You're welcome?'

In answer a deep rumbling sound came from the throat of the yellow animal, making him vibrate slightly in his lap. Allen smiled and petted him, making the purring get louder.

'Allen?' The white haired merboy looked up at the sound of his name, to see the prince carrying a tray of strange food in, 'Why are you on the floor?'

The small boy looked up happily and gestured to the sleeping animal in his lap. 'This guy wanted to get in so I got up to let him in. Eh... What is he exactly?' he asked sheepishly.

Lavi chuckled, placed the tray on the bedside table and walked over, crouching in front of the younger male. He poked the animal, and it stopped purring to open it's eyes and look up at the prince, almost pouting.

'That,' Lavi explained, 'Is the castle's pet cat Timcampy. Pets are animals Humans keep as companions.'

The fifteen year old tilted his head in adorable confusion. 'So... Humans get lonely even when they are around other humans?' Lavi chuckled at Allens confused expression and nodded.

'Sometimes... Well, you wanna eat now?' Allen nodded happily. The taller smiled, gently pushing a protesting Timcampy from Allen`s lap and lifted the slender form of the merboy up into his arms. He couldn't help but note the way Allen smiled blissfully as he leaned his head against Lavi`s shoulder, wrapping his slim arms around the prince`s neck. Lavi flushed a little, swallowed the ache in his chest down and grinned. 'You've come along way since we met yah know. Before you wouldn't even talk to me, and it's only been a little while since then.'

'Like I said before,' Allen glanced up at him, beaming, 'I love you, so I trust you fully.'

The taller boy opened his mouth to respond, but to his surprise he couldn't think of what to say, so instead he shrugged, carried Allen over to the bed and set him down on the mattress. Timcampy also hopped onto the mattress, curling up between them like a small yellow cushion and going to sleep. As the prince reached for the food, Allen pulled the covers over his legs and propped himself up on the pillow, smiling proudly.

'I walked all the way to the glass thingy Lavi. My legs are still weak, but I did good, right?'

Lavi chuckled and put the tray on the merboy's lap. 'You sure did Allen.'

Allen made a thoughtful noise, absent-mindedly picking up one of the items on the tray biting into it. His gray eyes widened, and he chewed quickly before he swallowed.

'Oh my god what is that!?' Allen asked, looking down at the heavenly food with wondering eyes.

'Um, miterashi dango... It's a dessert...'

'I love it!' the teen declared and proceeded to down the rest of them, eating so fast Lavi sweat dropped, fearing he might choke.

--

It didn't take long for Allen to finish his meal, because it turned out he loved every single thing on the tray. When he was done he sighed happily and leant back, patting his tummy.

'That was much better then raw fish every day...'

'I`d imagine so...' the prince grinned, putting the empty tray on the table. He sat on the edge of the bed, crawling up so he lay on his side next to the boy, head propped up by his elbow. It was still fairly early in the afternoon, so the sun was shining through the window. Light reflected off the merboy's hair, making it almost glow, and the innocence in his eyes and smile gave him the appearance of an angel. He really was a beautiful creature, with only the red scar on the left side of his face marring his perfect features. Lavi furrowed his brow and sat up.

'Hey Allen... Where'd you get that scar from?'

Allen blinked in surprise, and pointed to his face. 'What, th-this one?' Lavi nodded and he smiled 'I-I got it after I saved you when we were little. One of the mermen slashed me with their tail as punishment, warning me not to interfere again. That was before they were trying to kill me of course...'

'What?!' the older teen's single emerald eye widened. Allen had gotten that painful looking wound for him? The merperson chuckled, oblivious to his shock. 'Of course, it was well worth the pain to save your life, especially now that I know what a good person you are. By the way...' he added slowly, looking around, 'Where did your friend Kanda go? He doesn't like it when I call him Yu-Chan...'

'Yu? Oh, he had stuff to do. He should be back later with clothes for you though, we already asked one of the maids to go look through my old stuff for some. Anyway, you wanna have a bath? You smell like seawater, no offense, and humans don't generally go around smelling like that all the time unless they're a fisherman.'

'A... Bath?'

Lavi sweat dropped, remembering they didn't have baths underwater. 'Um, its... It's this big tub full of water where you get clean.' Lavi said after a moment of thought, explaining a bath to someone was kinda weird in his opinion

'Oh.' he smiled brightly, 'That sounds fun. But I don't really know what to do, could you help me?' Allen asked innocently, wondering why Lavi blushed slightly at the request.

'Uh, yeah ok....'

The slimmer boy grinned, and attempted to stand up. Lavi helped him up, keeping a firm hold on his forearms in case he fell. Allen stood stronger this time, though he still needed help walking to the tiled bathroom.

Once there, he sat Allen down on the closed lid of the toilet seat, then turned to turn on the taps of the porcelain tub. He poured a little bubble bath in as an after thought, Allen would probably enjoy the bubbles. Lavi turned back to Allen smiling warmly.

'Right, while the water's running you gotta get undressed ok?'

'O-ok....'

The small boy fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, but his inexperienced fingers couldn't seem to grasp the concept of how to undo them properly. The prince chuckled and reached to unbutton them for him, smiling fondly. He blushed a little as he helped get Allen undressed, pushing unwelcome thoughts to the back of his mind as he bent to unwrap the bandages from his newly formed legs.

Lavi blinked in surprise. The wounds had completely disappeared, leaving nothing but pale, soft looking skin, the same as the rest of his body. Allen noticed his reaction and furrowed his brow in worry.

'Lavi? S-Something wrong?'

'Eh? Not really... Your legs have completely healed though...' he stood up straight, confusion etched in his face as he struggled to not stare at Allen`s nakedness, 'They should have taken two weeks at least.'

'Oh... Well the cuts were a remainder of my tail, so it's logical to think they would go away in a few hours.'

'I suppose...' he nodded slowly and went over to check the water. It was full, so he turned off the taps, came back to Allen, and helped his up to get into the bath. As he sunk into the steaming water, Allen`s silver eyes widened in shock.

'This water is warm!' he stared down at it, 'And all bubbly! Is it polluted?'

'No,' Lavi laughed, shaking his head in amusement. Allen's nativity was so cute sometimes. 'The water has been heated up so it's more comfortable to wash in. The bubbles... Well they're their for fun I guess. See?'

He sat on the stool next to the bath, scooped up a hand full of bubbles and blew them gently in Allen's direction. Most of them hit him in the face, but some of them lingered in the air, floating above the two. The snowy-haired boy looked at them in amazement, a smile of joy spreading over his angelic features. He reached up to touch one of them, but as soon as he made contact with it, it popped and disappeared. His smile turned into a look of disappointment.

'It vanished....'

'Yeah...' the redheaded prince laughed again, 'They'll do that to yah. Anyway, I'll show you how to wash properly.'

Lavi reached for the bar of soap and started scrubbing Allen's back with it, explaining how he had to rub it against his skin until it foamed, then rinse it off in the water. After the had completed that process, he then went to the sink and brought back a comb. He bushed it through Allen's hair to look for anything that ma have been caught in it like seaweed or bits of sand, but to his surprise his hair wasn't even knotty, despite never having been bushed. He shook his head in amazement. This kid was really odd...

'Lavi? What are you doing?'

'Brushing your hair to make sure it's smooth.'

'Oh...' he nodded, leaning back against the rim of the bath and closing his eyes, smiling, 'It feels nice.'

Lavi grinned. 'Yeah, well it doesn't really even need it, or washing. That's really unfair on us guys who need to look after ourselves everyday yah know!'

He playfully poked the smaller's shoulder, earning an eep of surprise. Allen swivelled around to face him, looking up apologetically. 'I'm sorry. Do you want me to get it dirty so it needs washing?'

'Uh, it was a joke Allen...'

Allen looked confused for a moment but before either of them could speak again, there was a rapping on the bathroom door and they both looked to see Kanda standing there, his long hair now tied up b a white strip of material

'Oi, Baka Usagi. Bookman wants to see you.'

'Aw, right now?' the prince groaned, 'What did I do this time?'

'You invited a complete Stanger with amnesia to live here forever. What do you think? Get moving.'

He made a jabbing motion over his shoulder with his thumb, then turned and left with the flick of the ponytail. Lavi sighed heavily and stood up.

'You're leaving again?' Allen's voice dripped with disappointment. Lavi nodded and smiled comfortingly, placing a hand onto of Allen`s snowy head. He ruffled his hair somewhat, admiring at how silky it felt.

'Unfortunately yes. Panda's lectures usually drag on for ages, and I'll probably need to argue with him to let you stay, but I promise I'll win. Will you be ok to get out and get dressed by yourself?'

'Yes...' he nodded, staring at the water. 'Um, hurry back....'

' I will!' he grinned and waved as he left. 'But make sure to get out and dry off before the water gets cold.'

Allen nodded and Lavi exited the bathroom, smiling at Allen over his shoulder before dissapearing around a corner. Kanda was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest. He raised his eyebrow at the slightly younger boy questioningly. 'You're certainly getting attached to him aren't you?'

'Huh? I guess...' the redhead shrugged. 'He's my friend after all.'

'You know what I mean, baka.'

'What?' the redhead blinked in surprise, blushing 'Yu, I don't like Allen that way! I mean... I can't. I'm engaged.'

'Che, whatever. Let's go.'

--

After Lavi left, the merboy sighed heavily and hugged his bare knees to his chest, feeling suddenly lonely. His legs didn't feel as weak as before, so after a moment he stood griping the bath's rim and cautiously stepped out into the white tiles, being careful not to fall.

Allen quickly went to retrieve a fluffy white towel and wrapped it around his dripping form, shivering slightly in the cold. Through the bathroom door and the window outside he could see it was sunset, and nearing dinnertime. Smiling that he now had complete control of his leg, he quickly dried off, but as he started to dress, he heard a mewing and a scraping on wood. Confused, he did the last buttons of his shirt up (having finally figuring out how do them) and walked out into the bedroom to find Timcampy scratching at the shut door, wanting to be let out. At the merboy's approach he turned his head to look up at him with doe-eyes.

'Meow?'

Allen chuckled and grasped the handle of the door, clicking it and pushing it open. Timcampy mewed happily and made to trot out th door but suddenly he stopped and hissed loudly, fur standing up on his back in anger. Allen looked to see what he was hissing at, and to his alarm he saw a strange tall man with dark hair and skin approach him, a sneaky smile on his face.

'Ah....' he stepped forward, his voice smoothand oily, 'So you must be the shipwreck boy I've heard about....'

Fear grippedthe merboy's heart and he took a step back, staring fearfully as the man entered the bedroom.

--

**Ooh, cliffy! I had lots of fun riting the bath scene. So cute X3. Big huggle to Nelaa fr being an awsome beta.**


	11. murder

**I'm very happy cos I bought two volumes of dgm manga and one has a chapter cover where Allen has his pants unbuttoned. For some reason in scanlations the page has the dgm logo in front of his pants though... Damn them.**

**Warning: language. The English language! But seriously they do swear a lot in this chapter.**

**Oh well! I don't own this. If I did it wouldn't be on hiatus.**

**----**

_Blood._

_A cry of pain from the only person who had ever thought he was more then just an evil merboy._

_A scary dark haired man's face._

_The face staring at him right now._

'Ah....' the man stepped forward, his voice smooth and oily, 'So you must be the shipwreck boy I've heard about....'

Allen took a step back. His chest hurt and his legs suddenly felt weak and unstable again. He stumbled over his own toes and fell onto the soft carpet, ignoring the slight pain that came with the fall and staring up wide-eyed at the dark-haired man. The man chuckled. 'A bit clumsy are you?'

'G-Get...' Allen's body was so strung with terror his voice caught in his throat. The boy attempted to stand, but it was like when he'd first got his legs; they felt like lead... No, he couldn't even feel them. The room was spinning around him and his stomach was churning, adding to his fear. The man had disappeared, though he could still sense him standing there, and rather then looking at Lavi's room he was looking at a domed surface supported by arches. Was he dying?

'Oi...' the man sounded almost concerned, taking another step forward, 'what's the matter with you boy?'

The white-haired teen was unable to answer, needing every bit of his concentration to stop from falling into that weird black shadow that surrounded his sight, similar to sleep but not. His chest hurt....  
Again, the man stepped forward, but then a voice rang out.

'OI! SLEAZE BUCKET! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!'

Kanda's voice sounded much too loud, so loud it made the small boy's head hurt, but it wasn't unwelcome because he sensed the man had stopped moving to turn to look at where the Japanese teen's voice was coming from.

'What did you just call me?' the man snapped in annoyance. Kanda strode forward, grabbed Tyki's collar and slammed him against the opposite wall with surprising strength for a boy with such a slim frame up against someone much larger. 'What did you do to the kid?' the teen's beautiful face was distorted with an angry glare, glancing at Allen's limp form lying on the ground.

'I didn't do anything! I came in and he suddenly fainted! He's obviously not healthy; just look at the colour of his hair.'

The Japanese teen hesitated, studying the lord's face intently. After finding no lies in his expression, he slowly released him and pushed him towards the door. "Get lost. I'll handle this."

Tyki raised his eyebrow at the way Kanda was acting. Yes, he knew the boy disliked him so he could understand the reaction to coming into his friend's room uninvited, but what was with the concern for what he did to the shipwreck boy? As far as he knew the Asian brat had never showed concern for anyone, except perhaps the prince that one time when he'd tried to kiss him. However, he simply smiled and walked out the door, deciding to investigate later if he deemed anything else suspicious.  
Kanda slammed the door, then turned and jogged over to the merboy on the ground. He knelt next to him and slid a hand under his back, furrowing his brow as he lifted him up a little. His cheeks were flushed an unhealthy red, though the rest of his skin was sickly, pale and covered in a sheen of sweat. He placed his other hand on the unconscious teen's forehead and swore. He'd only been gone for about fifteen minutes! How could he get a fever in that time?!

'Oi fish boy!' Kanda shook him in an attempt to wake him, 'Wake up!'

Allen's silver eyes fluttered open slightly, glazed over with illness, but then suddenly, before Kanda could say anything, he sat up, turned onto his hands and knees and with a heave he made a retching sound and threw up onto the floor. The taller boy made a noise of shock and stood up, jumping onto the safety of the bed as the merboy emptied the contents of his sick stomach.

'What the...' he murmured, utterly confused. He might have gotten food poisoning from the giant lunch he had earlier, but the cooks always checked the quality of the food before serving it to anyone, so it couldn't have been that. Had Tyki done something to him? And if so, what could he have possibly done?!  
At last, the younger boy groaned and fell to the side, narrowly avoiding the pool of sick on the carpet. Kanda reached down, hooked an arm around his back and pulled him up with a grunt of effort onto the bed. Allen whimpered weakly and curled up, hands shielding his head and face from an unknown danger. He was trembling, but Kanda wasn't sure if it was from fear or from the shock of throwing up.

----

The prince walked up the hall towards his room, an accomplished smile on his face. He'd spent three quarters of an hour arguing with his grandfather, but at last he'd managed to wear the old man down. Allen could stay, but he had to keep the small boy out of any trouble, which wouldn't be hard considering how polite and good-natured he was. He picked up the pace, his boots making soft padding noises on the red carpet as he hurried to tell Allen and Yu, but as he neared his doors he saw a grim-faced maid coming out of them carrying a mop, a bottle of carpet detergent and a suspicious smelling bucket. He blinked his one green eye in surprise, slowing as he approached her.

'Hey Lauren,' he addressed the maid, who smiled politely at him at the sound of his voice. 'Yes my prince?'

'What were you mopping up in my room?'

'Well, it seems your shipwreck friend is sick. He threw up all over your carpet, but don't worry it's all cleaned up now.'

Lavi's eyes widened. 'Sick?! W-why?'

'Master Kanda wasn't sure. We've already called the doctor; he'll be here in the morning.'

'Ok...' the young royal nodded and smiled, 'Thanks Lauren.'

Lauren bowed her head politely and as Lavi hurried past her. He opened one of his doors and was surprised to see the room was dark. It took a moment of getting used to the lack of light before he could make out the figure of Kanda sitting on his bed with Allen lying in his lap, a wet wash cloth covering his eyes. A sudden streak of what felt like jealousy spiked its way into his heart.

'Y-Yu?' his voice broke a little though he wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted to seize that stupid emotionless bastard by the ponytail and swing him around until he crashed through the window. Kanda looked up at him, an expression of blank disgust on his face.

'Fish boy kept moving into my lap and he wont let go now.' He gestured at the small pale hands gripping the shirt the eighteen year old was wearing, obviously not liking the contact. However, the jealous pain in his chest only continued to constrict his voice box, so instead of answering he just closed the door gently behind him and felt for the light switch.

'Don't turn on the light.' His childhood friend said suddenly, 'the kid said if the light turns on the monster will see him.'

Lavi blinked in surprise, his arm dropping to his side. 'Monster?'

'I couldn't get any more sense out of him then that before he fell asleep.' The stoic boy shrugged. 'I think he means you perverted fiancé, but I'm not sure.'

'Tyki was in here?! Lavi exclaimed as quietly as he could, seeing the sleeping merperson on the bed stir. He pushed his unexplained jealousy to the back of his mind as he hurried forward to get a better look at Allen, to make sure he wasn't hurt. Kanda nodded grimly. 'Yeah, but I came in before he got too near... At least I think he did. He was so terrified of him he fainted and threw up.'

The prince made a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat, crawling up onto the bed. He reached forward to gently stroke Allen's hot forehead, dampened by the washcloth that covered his eyes. Since Tyki was a mermaid hunter, perhaps Allen was scared of him because the lord had almost killed him on a hunt. He sighed heavily, and accidently placed a little too much pressure on Allen's skin. The fifteen year old made a small noise and shifted, moving aside the cloth to blink at Lavi sleepily. The redhead attempted to smile comfortingly. 'Hey, I heard you were sick. You feeling better now?'

A pause. Then-

'Lavi!' Allen cried, pushing himself from Kanda and burying his face instead in Lavi's lap. Lavi's eyes widened a little, a small blush spreading across his face as Allen wrapped his arms around his waist and hugging tightly. 'A-Allen?' Lavi stuttered, cautiously patting his back. Allen's voice sounded on the verge of tears as he spoke, muffled slightly by the prince's legs.

'The scary man... He's a monster!' his grip in Lavi tightened as he began to tremble, 'He's the one who killed Mana!'

Lavi gaped, unsure if he'd heard right. He exchanged a shocked expression with Kanda before looking back down at the youth in his lap. 'P-Pardon?'

'He killed him!' the boy sobbed, his voice rising angrily, 'He killed him killed him killed him! He deserves to die!'

'Allen!' Lavi said sternly. He put his hands on Allen's shoulders and pushed him into a sitting position gently. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the wash cloth and tilted his chin up so their eyes met. The merboy's cheeks reddened a little more, but the prince put it down to the fact he was crying. 'Listen, Allen. Tyki is a dickhead, but he's not a murderer. What did the man who killed Mana look like?'

'L-Like Tyki... He was g-going to kill me... B-But shot M-Mana with a h-harpoon instead...'

'And how long ago was it?'

'I was about eight....'

Lavi sighed in relief. 'Well there you go! It wasn't Tyki. Tyki would have only been a teenager back then! He didn't start hunting until he was about twenty-two.'

'No...' Allen shook his head, covering his eyes. Lavi felt extremely distressed at seeing his friend like this. 'I'm s-sure I-It was him!'

The prince and Kanda exchanged troubled glances. The lord Tyki couldn't really have done something like that, could he? He wasn't the most likeable person, but accusing him of killing another human was stretching it pretty far. Lavi sighed and stroked the merboy's soft hair, trying to sooth him. Now that he had had a bath, he no longer smelt like seawater; he smelt like scented soap and lavender, which made no sense since Lavi was pretty sure there wasn't anything lavender related in his bathroom. The smell was intoxicating, and he had to resist the urge to lean down and bury his face in Allen's snowy locks.

'_Oi!' _the sensible part of his brain brought him back to earth, '_don't you think that's a little off topic?!'_

He shook his head rapidly, clearing his mind of that smell and those unwelcome thoughts. He sat there, holding the transformed merboy until his sobs and angry mutterings ceased, to be replaced by the shallow uneasy breathing of a troubled sleep.

'What do you think?' Kanda murmured quietly after a while, 'Think the sleaze bucket really killed this Mana guy? Who is he anyway?'

'He's the guy who helped Allen get his soul. And I'm not sure...' the redhead sighed, carding his fingers through his hair, mussing it up even more then it was naturally, 'I mean... He seemed so sure, but...' he gestured helplessly. Kanda huffed bitterly. 'Che wouldn't put something like past him. He loves power right? Maybe Mana was doing something to threaten that.'

'Yu-Chan, you just don't like him cos he's threatening to chuck you out after he marries me.'

The Japanese boy smirked evilly. 'Well that is part of it...'

Lavi shook his head, smiling slightly, and looked down at the sleeping boy in his lap. His brow was furrowed slightly, as though dreaming of something unpleasant, the troubled expression marring an otherwise angelic face. Again, his attention was drawn to the unexplained flowery scent, and again, he rapidly shook his head to clear his thoughts. He carefully slid Allen from his lap and onto the soft pillows of his bed, the white-haired boy stirring only slightly as he did. The prince then crawled off the bed and stood up to reach for his boots next to the nightstand. Kanda raised an eyebrow.

'And where are you going now?'

'To talk to Tyki,' he explained, lacing up the first, 'If I can conform he didn't kill Mana, Allen will feel better.'

'What?!' the slightly older boy looked alarmed 'But what if he really is a killer?! He won't have any second thoughts about killing you to keep you quiet.'

'If he kills me,' Lavi grinned cheekily, finishing the laces on his second boot, 'then you can turn him in and you'll be rid of an annoying sleaze bucket as well as a perverted rabbit. I'd say you'll come out on top if I get murdered.'

Kanda rolled his eyes, muttering a "whatever it's none of my business" as he did. Lavi laughed and went over to the door, pausing before exiting to turn back to look at them. 'Keep on an eye on Allen would ya?'

'Yeah yeah...'

----

Tyki's suite was on the other side of the castle, in one of the few towers. When the prince finally got there, he knocked on the large oak doors and waited, his heart clenched in nervousness. There wasn't any way to tell if Tyki was being truthful or not if he denied killing Mana, but Lavi wasn't only doing this for Allen; he himself wanted some reassurance. He didn't want to marry the guy with the ever present doubt he was a murderer.

'Yes?' the lord pulled his door open and poked his head out. Upon seeing it was the crimson haired royal, he smiled seductively. 'Ah, Prince Lavi!'

'H-Hi lord Tyki...' Lavi gulped, a little fearful. He attempted to smile back, but failed. He too a deep breath before going on, attempting to calm his nerves. 'Could I come in? I have something to talk to you about.'

'Certainly.'

The older man moved aside, gesturing with his arm for the redhead to enter whilst still wearing that smile. Lavi moved into the room and cast a brief glance around. It was just like all the other guest rooms in his castle; stone walls decorated with tapestries and paintings, a king-sized bed with a canopy and a giant dresser covered in fancy engravings, plus a few random objects here and there no doubt belonging to the occupant. He turned back to see Tyki sit down in a large comfortable looking chair and pat the seat next to him with a face reading "please join me." The prince didn't, however, choosing to stand. He clenched his fists, deciding to get it over with.

'Um, we found out why my friend Allen is sick.'

'Oh?' the lord raised his eyebrow. Lavi nodded. 'Yeah. He... This isn't easy to say, but he said you looked like the man who killed his... Er, father.'

Tyki looked as though he'd been struck by lightening, that seductive grin disappearing instantly. He quickly stood up; towering over the prince and making him step back in a mixture of fear and surprise. Lavi took another breath.

'You didn't kill a man called Mana... Did you?'

Tyki exhaled heavily, the thunderstruck look fading to exhausted shock. He placed a hand on the chair next to him, leaning heavily as though it was too tiring to stand. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and low. 'I thought the boy had amnesia....'

'He does. He just... Remembers some things.'

'I see.... Listen highness, I promise you, I'm not a murderer, so don't worry about that. However...' he stood up straighter and turned, taking a step towards Lavi, 'It's no lie that I killed Mana Walker.'

Lavi gasped, one good eye widening in shock. He stumbled back, knees hitting the bed and falling onto the mattress. He struggled back into a sitting position, not wanting to lose sight of the dark-haired man for a moment. 'WHAT?!'

'It was an accident,' another tired sigh from the lord, taking a few steps closer. 'You see... I started hunting in my early twenties. One time when I had travelled to this place on a holiday, I heard a young merboy had been swimming around one of the beaches. I rented a harpoon gun and went down to the beach, and discovered him. However, just as I fired the gun, a man called Mana Walker jumped in front of it and blocked the harpoon from hitting the merboy. He got away, but Mr. Walker died instantly. I hope you'll believe me when I say I never wanted to kill anyone but that merperson.'

'I-I...' the prince stuttered a little, but before he could answer, Tyki had crawled onto the bed, straddling his waist, pinning him to the mattress and looking him straight in the eye with sincerity. The redhead found his voice, but when he opened his mouth to tell Tyki to get off the lord leant down and kissed him.

'MPPHT! He cried out in surprise. He struggled against the heavier man above him, trying to punch and kick him off, but Tyki merely seized his wrists and pinned them to the mattress, then sat down heavily on Lavi's thighs, restricting his movement. He took the prince's attempts at crying out as an invitation to deepen the kiss. He panicked.

'GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU FREAK!' with a mighty heave, he threw his body to the side, rolling the two of them over so Lavi was on top of Tyki. He jumped back off the bed, stumbling slightly as he hit the floor, panting and red-faced as he tried to get oxygen back into his lungs. Tyki sat up, an innocently surprised look on his face. 'You don't need to be so angry, highness. If you didn't want to kiss me, then you should have said so.'

Lavi didn't even dignify that stupid comment with an answer. He turned around, stalked out the door and slammed it closed behind him.  
He walked quickly, shaken up and feeling like something was chasing him. Should have said so... That pervert had made it deliberately so he couldn't speak or fight back! Yes, he believed Lord Tyki hadn't purposely murdered Mana Walker, but that didn't mean he was a good person. As soon as he got back and comforted Allen, he was going straight to his grandfather's chambers and begging that the engagement be called off, even if it meant crawling and begging on his knees!

'Ugh...' he held his head in his hands, suddenly feeling sick. With Tyki around, being on his knees wouldn't be a god idea.

'OI! USAGI!'

Lavi jumped at the sound of the voice, but recollected himself as he recognised a frazzled Kanda jogging down the hall towards. He attempted to paint on a smile. 'Ah! Yu-Chan! What brings you here? I thought you were looking after Allen?'

'Fish boy ran away.'

'WHAT?!' Lavi screamed, unsure if he could take anymore stress today, 'I thought you were watching him?! Please tell me you're joking!'

'I don't "joke." The Japanese boy folded his arms crossly. 'I was tired, I fell asleep. I woke up and he was gone.'

'You fell asleep?!' the redhead blinked, 'In public? That's not like you.'

'I know, but there was this weird smell in your room that made my mind go weird-'

'Ok,' Lavi ran his fingers through his hair, 'We'll get into this later. Come on, let's go look for him.'

'Che, whatever.'

----

**This chapter hasn't been beta'd yet but it will soon, so sorry for the crappiness of the chapter. Poor Lavi, so stressed out today. **

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	12. WalkSleeping

**Hey guys sorry this is so late. I know normally I'm much faster with my chapters, but due to circumstances at home I've developed anxiety troubles, so much that at one point I was having an anxiety attack every few days, and long story short the doctor advised me to stop "putting too much on my plate." So it's best for my health I stop trying to get a chapter every day and space it out a bit.**

**Huggles for ****Saiyoru-chan****, ****Maharet11****, ****Koru Da Fern Princess****, ****seaturtlesrox****, ****Kayday****, ****SakuraKissy****, ****TehMerill****, ****KinKitsune01****, ****WrathofMugen****, ****Aion Laven Walker****, ****babo123****, ****Evil Snail Overlord****, ****Rika-chan 14****, ****best-world****, and ****Nusku****! Btw Koru, I love your ff avatar ;)**

**I don't own dgm.**

**----**

'Go to bed, idiot. That's the millionth time you've yawned in the last few minutes.'

'I'm not tired...'

'Go to bed you stupid rabbit, you've been looking for fish-boy for over two hours and you look like a train wreck.'

Lavi sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck which had become inexplicably sore. He suppressed another yawn, attempting to ignore his body's "bedtime" signals.

'I'm fine...' he smiled, 'That damn Tyki just freaked me out back there. I'll feel better once I find Allen.'

Kanda che'd irritably. 'Baka, if the fish means that much to you I'll look while you're in bed.'

The prince almost had a heart attack. Was Kanda Yu-the _most _indifferent person in the world, offering to do something nice!? Kanda had done nice things to an extent before but he never normally did it straight away or without anyone asking him to. Lavi went to grin and make a comment, but the Japanese boy held up his hand, glaring the redhead into silence. 'Say anything and die, I'm not doing this to be nice.'

'Then why are you doing it?'

'.... Because having you around annoys me but at the same time if the fish boy is left alone he'll probably blow our cover and get us in shit. I'll look for him, so fuck off to bed already.'

'Are you sure? Because I can-'

'Bed.' The Japanese boy commanded sternly, pointing back in the direction they had just came from, suddenly strongly reminding Lavi of a mother irritated at her troublesome son. He chuckled. Kanda didn't need to look for Allen; he could just go to bed and make the royal look by himself. Lavi smiled softly in defeat.

'Ok Yu-Chan. Wake me up when you find him or if you want help okay?'

Kanda glared at the redheaded prince for a moment, then walked on ahead, muttering curses in Japanese as he disappeared down the end of the large hallway. Lavi watched Kanda leave before he turned to walk in the other direction towards the stairs that would lead him to his room. He really hoped Allen was safe; the boy was extremely terrified of Lord Tyki, so had he run away back to the ocean? The prince didn't like the thought, not only would he be in danger of other Merpeople as well as hunters, but he'd miss having the smaller teen around.

He furrowed his brow in concentration as a thought struck him. Kanda had said a weird smell in the room had put him to sleep, and before that when Lavi had been comforting him Allen's scent had made him feel intoxicated. Did Merpeople have a defence mechanism that confused the enemy with smells? He hadn't noticed a smell before... but that could be just because he had gotten rid of the seawater smell, or because being scared triggered it.

'What use would it be underwater though?' he wondered out loud quietly. 'Unless... they only developed it to fend off mermaid hunters while they were above the water...'

That seemed plausible, so happy with that conclusion for now; Lavi concentrated on navigating his way through the labyrinth of halls and corridors. In truth he was quite tired, but he doubted he'd sleep very easy with Allen missing in action. The merboy was a smart kid but his lack of common human knowledge would arouse suspicion, even if the amnesia explanation was given.

----

Allen yawned and stretched as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He blinked himself awake and to his enormous surprise he wasn't in Lavi's comfortable bed where he remembered falling asleep. In fact, this wasn't even the bedroom, or even _a_ bedroom for that matter. He was lying on a long cushiony thing up against a wall, which was covered in charts and confusing diagrams, contrary to the usual pictures that normally flanked the palace walls. The room itself was gigantic; with a very strange looking carpet which Allen soon realised was thousands of sheets of paper spread on the floor. The wall opposite his was entirely made of glass, and all throughout the room were shelves and tables and benches piled with books, more papers and strange looking devices similar to the ones Allen had seen in the sea fairy Lenalee's cave. He panicked slightly, hurriedly looking around for Lavi, when a cheerful voice spoke.

'Oh, so you're awake then?'

'EEK!' the merboy almost fell off the couch at the sound turning his head to face the armchair next to the couch. In it sat a man with a large book in his lap and a pair of spectacles on his friendly face. His shoulder-length hair and facial features were similar to Kanda's, but slightly different. Seeing Allen's shocked expression the strange man laughed.

'Sorry, did I scare you?' he chuckled as he closed his book. 'Well, you gave me quite a fright earlier too you know. I thought my super secret study/hide-out had become common knowledge! I was really relieved when I realised you were sleep walking...'

As he chuckled again, Allen tilted his head on confusion. 'Sleep... Walking?' he said slowly, testing the unfamiliar phrase on his tongue, 'People can walk while they're asleep?'

'Why yes!' he said enthusiastically, delighted at being asked a question. He leant back in his chair, linking his fingers together and smiling knowledgably. 'I'm kind of surprised you don't know. It's a sleep condition, and could prove dangerous if it persists as it could cause the victim to walk off a cliff without the slightest care. It's often merely a reaction to stress, and not the body performing the physical aspect of a dream like so many people think. I'm Koumi lee,' he added, holding out his hand. Allen stared confusedly at it, unsure what he was doing, and the strange man laughed again and took it away.

'Don't know what sleepwalking is, don't know what to do with a handshake, you're not very smart are you?'

Allen pouted, annoyed at being insulted. 'I am smart! I just don't know many things...'

This earned another chuckle from Koumi. 'Touché my friend. May I ask who you are?' he leaned towards him, a questioning smile on his face. Allen swallowed nervously. What if he was a mermaid hunter?! He racked his brains, trying to remember the story Lavi and Kanda had given him. 'M-My name is Allen, um... I... Are you a mermaid hunter?'

He felt like slapping himself. He'd meant to say he'd come from a shipwreck, but the last part had slipped out without his consent. Koumi blinked, his glasses sliding down to the end of his nose comically. He smiled after a moment and pushed them back up, standing up to go over to one of the shelves.

'No...' he said, picking up a glass vial labelled "coffee" off the Bunsen burner it had been stationed on and taking a drink, 'I'm the castle scientist, alchemist, magician, etcetera...Or rather I was until King Leo died. Then King Bookman took over again and fired me, declaring that nothing I had ever done had been useful...'

He said that last part rather bitterly, glaring off into the distance and squeezing the vial so hard cracks appeared in it. Allen wondered if he was ok, but Koumi suddenly smiled again making Allen question his sanity instead.

'Fortunately Prince Lavi likes what I do! He lets me stay secretly in this rather remote part of the castle, and tells the maids to visit me every so often in case I need anything. I can use the back door to go into town, but there's this one maid who I think likes me so I'm going to... You know what? You don't need to hear that part!' he laughed again, sipping his coffee. Allen raised his eyebrow. This guy was weird, but he seemed nice enough so he supposed it was safe here. Still, if this was a remote part of the castle, then that meant Lavi wasn't here. How would he find his way back?

'Um...' he began, trying to stand awkwardly. His legs had gone weak and stiff in his sleep it seemed, so he sat back down on the couch. 'Koumi? Do you think you could tell me the way back to prince Lavi's room?'

'Eh? The prince? Oh!' the Asian man snapped his fingers, 'You must be his fiancé! You're much younger then I've heard.'

Allen was unsure why his face suddenly heated up. 'N-No, I'm his... I think he called me his friend? Yeah, his friend. I'm sleeping there, and I've never been in the castle so if I try to go back I'll get lost.'

Koumi thoughtfully took another sip of his coffee and shook his head, smiling apologetically. 'Sorry, I don't know the way either. Not to his room anyway.'

'Oh...' the fifteen year old stared sadly at his lap. What if he was stuck here for the rest of his life? Lavi might never think to look for him here, and he'd be stuck talking to a strange but nice guy until the day he died. However before he was able to contemplate what to do further, Koumi suddenly spoke again, his voice taking on a more serious tone.

'So tell me Allen... What's a merboy like you doing walking on legs hmm?'

Allen almost had a heart attack. His eyes widened and he suppressed a gasp, feeling like he was about to faint again. The man stared back politely in waiting for the answer, sipping his coffee. 'Well?'

'I-I have no idea what you're t-talking about! I-I'm hu-human!'

Koumi laughed yet again. He seemed to find everything funny in some weird way. He took a few steps forward towards the couch, and Allen shrunk fearfully back into the soft red cushions, hand gripping his chest protectively. This was it, he thought, looking around hurriedly to see if Koumi was too close for the young teen to make a break for it. The man knew what he was and he was either going to turn him in to Tyki, or kill him himself. He wasn't sure how he could have possibly found out, but that didn't really matter either way. He squeezed his eyes shut and made a frightened noise, seeing the man reach out towards him, waiting for the odd scientist to grab him or do something to hurt him, but instead, he felt a hand placed on his head to ruffle his white hair affectionately. Allen blinked in confusion and looked up to see Koumi smiling warmly down at him. 'Relax Allen. I'm not going to turn you in.'

Now he was even more confused. 'You... aren't?'

'Nope! I'm on Prince Lavi's side when it comes to Merpeople; I don't think they're all bad. You see, my mother was a sea-fairy, as is my younger sister, and though her fairy genes didn't pass on to me because I am male, I still possess magical powers to an extent... And if there's one thing I have learned about magic, it's that there's always an exception.'

'An exception?'

'Yes, an exception. No matter what spell is performed or what species of magical creature there is, there will always be some way to get around the defined rules. From the story Lavi told me about you saving him as a child, you must be a kind, decent and thoughtful merboy who doesn't wish to hurt anyone, therefore I believe you are the exception to the mermaidian race. Pretty cool huh?'

He grinned and looked at Allen expectantly, as though waiting for him to shower his genius with praise. Allen, having no idea why he used the word "cool" to describe something that didn't have temperature, sat there, staring in adorable confusion. Koumi sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his neck.

'Tough crowd...'

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and moment later to Allen's relief, it swung open to reveal a pissed-off Kanda.

'Kanda!' Allen cried out joyfully, launching off the couch, leaping across the room and glomping the Japanese boy, clinging to him tightly. Kanda stumbled back a bit, looking surprised, then annoyed.

'Oi! Get off you stupid fish!'

'Is Lavi mad?' the merboy ignored the older boy's command.

'Che, no, but I am! You idiot! Do you know how dangerous it is for you to run off like that?! You could have blown our cover!'

Allen pouted. 'It's not my fault. I was walk-sleeping.'

'What?' Kanda stared at the boy as if he was an idiot.

'He means sleepwalking,' Koumi supplied helpfully. Kanda glared at him, making Koumi smile in amusement. The evil eye didn't work very well when a cute kid was clinging to him like a frightened koala. It merely made him look like an over-protective mother. He took another sip of his beloved coffee, before glancing at the clock on the wall.

'Well I'm glad you found Allen, but it's almost one thirty in the morning. You two should really be getting to bed.'

'Baka, that's what I was doing!' he growled then yanked on Allen's arm, dragging him back towards the door. 'Come on, fish boy. Run off again and I'll kill you.'

'S-Sorry...' he stuttered, waving goodbye to Koumi, and trotting to keep up with the taller human's quick gait as they entered the labyrinth of the castle, 'And I'm not a fish. Fish have gills and are cold blooded.'

'Yeah? Well Merpeople don't have blood at all. Sounds pretty cold to me.'

'But I DO have blood,' he corrected him simply, a small smile on his cute face. Kanda said nothing in response, which Allen took as a win. He yawned widely, tiredness starting to make his silvery eyes itch. As they walked, they went down a few corridors, turned about a dozen corners and even went of a staircase, until soon enough they came to the giant double doors Allen recognised as the entrance to Lavi's room. Finally, Kanda let go of his arm, confident the boy wouldn't run off.

'Usagi is inside.' The taller said, taking off down the hallway to the left, 'I'm going to bed. Give Lavi a reason to bother me again and I'll skin you both and spread you on my bathroom floor like a rug...'

His muttering continued down the corridor, disappearing as he rounded a corner. After a moment Allen stepped forward and shyly pushed the large doors open, poking his head in. Through the gloom he could make out a large lump in the bed the sheets rising and falling softly as the prince breathed. The white-haired teen smiled, tip-toed quietly in and softly shut the door behind him. He made his way over to the soft bed, crawled under the covers, and snuggled up against the warmth of his friend. The prince made a confused noise and stirred.

'E-Eh?' he blinked sleepily, 'Oh... Allen... Glad you're back... Where were you?'

'I woke up in some guy called Koumi's room.'

'Ah, right...'

'S-Sorry I made you worry... I was walk-sleeping...'

'S'ok...' his single green eye closed as he fell back asleep, cuddling against Allen as he settled into a comfortable position. Allen sighed, staring at his handsome face. He'd wanted to talk about Tyki, but decided it could wait until morning. He didn't want to disturb Lavi while he was sleeping; he looked adorable.

----

**This chapter hasn't been beta'd yet but it's been so long since you guys had a chapter you can have it now. And don't worry! More shall happen in the next chapter! Hehe, I was foreshadowing for future events like crazy in this chapter, so don't say it's a filler :)**

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